France, June 16 -- The French prime minister said France's responsibility must be to "protect its sovereignty" and "strengthen public services" in the race to develop digital technology.

"We cannot accept new strategic dependencies in the digital realm," he explained, expressing his desire to "build genuine autonomy" so as not to "depend on the goodwill of certain partners, capable (...) of cutting off access" to AI.

Speaking in a video message on Tuesday, Lecornu announced an additional €655 million of new public investment to develop the country's own artificial intelligence.

The announcement came just ahead of Paris's VivaTech trade fair which opens on Wednesday.

The France 2030 public investment program for innovation will "...