Analysis

February 7, 2025

Inside the French founders factory churning out AI startups like Mistral and Hugging Face: ‘There are swarms of them’

Centuries-old engineering school École Polytechnique has been a breeding ground for AI talent


École Polytechnique © Ecole polytechnique / Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Jeremy Barande

France’s AI Action Summit may not kick off for a few more days, but 30 kilometres south of Paris on the campus of École Polytechnique, festivities are already underway. 

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Daphné Leprince-Ringuet

Daphné Leprince-Ringuet is a senior reporter for Sifted, based in Paris. She covers French tech and writes Sifted's AI and Deeptech newsletter . You can find her on X and LinkedIn

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