Google DeepMind experts Laurent Sifre and Karl Tuyls are in talks to found a new artificial intelligence startup called Holistic in Paris. Despite cost-cutting and redundancies at Google, the project is expected to raise more than 200 million euros, demonstrating the growing interest in artificial intelligence technology in France.

• The experts from Google DeepMind, Laurent Sifre and Karl Tuyls, are in talks to found a new AI start-up called Holistic in Paris.
• Despite cost-cutting and redundancies at Google, they have already secured capital of more than 200 million euros.
• The two experts are part of a growing interest in artificial intelligence technology, particularly in France.

Investors are reportedly in talks with Google DeepMind experts Laurent Sifre and Karl Tuyls to set up a new artificial intelligence (AI) start-up called Holistic in Paris.

Despite extensive cost-cutting and redundancies at Google, the pair have already raised a considerable amount of money for their project. They are in talks to raise more than 200 million euros in capital, which shows the great interest of investors in AI technology, particularly in France.

Who are the two collaborators?

Venture capitalists and business leaders have invested significant sums in France, particularly in artificial intelligence start-ups originating from Parisian institutions and AI centres linked to Silicon Valley companies. Sifre is widely known as the co-author of a groundbreaking study on the game of Go conducted by DeepMind in 2016, in which an artificial intelligence system defeated a professional player in a full game. Tuyl’s research areas in artificial intelligence include multi-agent reinforcement learning and game theory.

The growing trend towards artificial intelligence

The up-and-coming startup AI appears to have founded rival OpenAI Mistral AI in the first half of 2023. At the end of the same year, Mistral AI raised considerable capital and reached a valuation of around USD 2 billion. The company is led by a former director of DeepMind, and in November a non-profit organisation called Kyutai was founded, which is dedicated to research in the field of artificial intelligence and has raised 300 million euros in investment.