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Hardware and software suppliers, chip and GPU providers, start-up founders, engineers, CTOs and researchers: all the major players in today’s AI ecosystem joined Scaleway at Station F today, for the 2nd edition of its ai-PULSE conference. Their consensus: AI has several futures, not just one.

Larger models, and ever-greater compute capacity, remain a key growth factor for the future of AI. After underlining at the first edition of ai-PULSE that Scaleway possesses the European cloud’s largest compute capacity, Scaleway’s CEO Damien Lucas, confirmed at this year’s event that that capacity has tripled this past year, with the addition of further 

Lucas added that in just a few weeks’ time, Scaleway will operate more than 

Scaleway will continue to accompany European AI growth and plans to offer 

 GPUs, the world’s most advanced AI platform, which enables organizations to build and run trillion-parameter large language models at up to 25x less cost and energy consumption than its predecessor. 

 GPU series, whose considerable amounts of VRAM make them interesting options for LLM inference. Another European first from Scaleway!

At ai-PULSE 2024, Lucas also said that Scaleway won’t hide from the growing concerns about the sustainability of generative AI. Not only is most of Scaleway’s AI compute capacity housed in 

one of Europe’s most energy- and water-efficient data centers

the world’s least impactful data centers

In addition, ai-PULSE 2024 saw the announcement by Scaleway of its 

, the cloud’s most comprehensive and far-reaching calculator, in that it covers all three scopes of emissions, as well as individualized hardware impact, and water consumption (now in private beta: 

Scaleway has fostered privileged relationships with the leading AI tech providers – namely ai-PULSE partners 

NVIDIA, AMD, Ampere, VAST Data, DDN, Dell Technologies

 and more – to ensure European AI builders can get access to all the options they need to innovate at scale without getting locked into one proprietary ecosystem.

Scaleway is also open to all kinds of innovation, which is one of the reasons why, last year, we launched a quantum emulation service in partnership with 

. Today, with the same API, Scaleway will allow you to run your code on a real quantum computer (more info 

This open source spirit is also at the heart of Scaleway’s 

, which enable developers to serve models seamlessly and switch from OpenAI APIs to truly open source models with just a single line of code.

 – the conversational AI developed by open science laboratory Kyutai (launched at the last ai-PULSE) – will be available as a service on Scaleway’s 

 product, enabling developers to easily build their first sovereign speech use cases.

And last but by no means least, Scaleway announced 

 – an open source legend who was one of the masterminds of open source media player VLC – as its new CTO. In this role, Kempf will lead the creation of a new generation of sovereign and European AI products and services.

“Our latest wave of innovations means we’re not only ideally placed to empower the European AI ecosystem,” said Scaleway CEO, Damien Lucas, “we’re now set to truly democratize AI by making it more accessible than ever before. Just like the iliad Group founder, Xavier Niel, democratized internet access 25 years ago. That’s why Scaleway is convinced the future of AI is big, efficient and open… to everyone!”

Scaleway is the cloud services provider that is driving AI innovation in Europe.

Scaleway, part of the Iliad Group, offers a robust and scalable infrastructure tailored to meet the demands of modern artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads.

With a global presence and a track record of serving over 38,000 clients on all continents, we empower organizations with scalable cloud solutions and seamless integration, making us a trusted partner for businesses driving innovation in AI.

Scaleway affirms AI’s Big, Efficient & Open future at ai-PULSE 2024

Scaleway is excited to announce the three key themes for the upcoming ai-PULSE 2024 event, set to take place on November 7th at Station F in Paris. This year's conference will focus on the critical aspects of AI development shaping the future of technology and innovation. Join us as we dive into these essential topics:

The future of AI is increasingly driven by the demand for vast amounts of data and computing power to train and deploy models. However, this raises critical challenges: how can we ensure access to high-quality training data, and how do we secure computing power when global demand peaks at the same time? Finding scalable, cost-effective solutions will be essential to sustain the momentum of AI development.

While the largest models continue to dominate benchmarks, “smaller” models—either fine-tuned or organized as agents—present a promising alternative. Emerging optimization techniques allow for the reduction of model size without compromising performance. Efficient, specialized models not only address performance needs but also offer a more sustainable path forward for AI development.

A key factor behind AI’s current maturity, open source enables developers to rapidly prototype, experiment and iterate, with performance increasingly rivaling that of closed models. Open source drives innovation and transparency. It also helps enterprises retain control of their AI infrastructure, avoiding vendor lock-in, sudden licensing changes and dependence on foreign providers. Could open source be the key to Europe’s AI dominance? Join us to find out...

ai-PULSE 2024's themes: Big, Efficient and Open

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for AI over the past two years. Since then, the market has skyrocketed; to give just one of many potential examples, it’s been estimated that generative AI in particular could increase global GDP by 10% over the coming decade (

It’s as such little surprise that AI expertise has grown exponentially of late, especially in the US and Asia. However, as the first edition of ai-PULSE underlined last November, whilst Europe has historically been tech’s late starter, it mustn’t be ruled out of the AI race.

Paris in particular has a thriving AI startup ecosystem, led by stars such as Mistral, the H Company, or by pioneering lab Kyutai (itself launched at ai-PULSE 2023). And let’s not forget that without French talents such as Meta’s Thomas Scialom or Christian Keller, models like Llama would simply not exist.

So where does that leave us today? With an AI sector ripe for maturity, beyond the hype wave which we all know will subside in time. How will it mature? We’ve identified three key vectors as ai-PULSE 2024’s main themes.

The future of AI is increasingly shaped by the need for ever-larger amounts of data and computing power. Few companies have embodied this trend more than OpenAI, the dominant player in LLMs, thanks to its GPT models. But they’re not alone!

Recent experience has confirmed decisively that, more than ever, we need ever-more-powerful GPU clusters to handle all kinds of complex models. So at ai-PULSE, we’ll be looking deeply into the need for powerful computing for AI tasks, and at efforts to make these advanced technologies easier to use and more cost-effective.

The same principle applies across other types of LLMs: the more data a model is trained on, the more realistic its images will be, the more precise its predictions and so on.

Which of course begs the question: how far can this curve go? Indeed, as Exponential Views’ Azeem Azhar points out 

, by 2027, training a single AI model could cost $100 billion, raising concerns about the economic viability of further scaling. Future AI development may face limits due to data scarcity, rising costs, and the need for innovations in synthetic data and efficiency improvements. So not only does AI compute need to get more and more powerful; it also needs to get more accessible.

ai-PULSE speaker Robert Marino, CEO of Qubit Pharmaceuticals, is well placed to dive into this topic. His startup uses Scaleway’s GPU power to accelerate medical research into new medicines, using a combination of high-performance computing (HPC), quantum computing, and AI. This combination allows research teams to obtain the same test results with 3-5 times less staff and 20 times less tests than using traditional methods, demonstrating how compute power can turbo-boost healthcare when applied correctly. More info on Qubit’s fascinating work 

Other ai-PULSE speakers who can testify to the importance of large models and major clusters include Florian Douetteau, CEO of Dataiku. This French unicorn owes its explosive growth to an expert leverage of AI’s power to deliver shopping recommendations or business performance forecasts to clients as large as General Electric, Levi’s or Mercedes-Benz.

Fellow French AI unicorn H’s Charles Kantor will also take to the ai-PULSE stage. Kantor’s company, which also relies on Scaleway’s large GPU clusters, made headlines earlier this year when it launched at a valuation of $220 million; a sum most other startups could only dream of.

While large models continue to dominate benchmarks, “smaller” models - either fine-tuned or organized as agents - are proving today that size isn’t everything. They can deliver high performance whilst requiring less powerful hardware, leading to significant cost savings. Compact models also have lower energy consumption, making AI more sustainable.

First and foremost, it’s increasingly clear that not everyone needs a model trained on the entire internet. Some, like any given country’s legal profession, for example, only require models trained on their own specific data subset, for example that country’s court rulings. This naturally leads to smaller, more specialized models.

As Sasha Luccioni et al indicate in their 

, in many applications, utility does not require scale. For example:

In France in particular, the term “frugal AI” is catching on, notably because the country is a green IT pioneer, but also because the government has affirmed that lighter AI models will stand a better chance of receiving financial support and state contracts. Why? Largely because the impact of predominant models like OpenAI’s GPT series is increasingly large… and increasingly hard to measure.

Which is precisely why ai-PULSE speaker Samuel Rincé, Lead Engineer at Algyne, set about creating an impact measurement tool, with the support of ONG Data for Good. The result,

 is an open source Python library that anyone can use to measure the inference impact of many major models, demonstrating for example that using GPT4-o generates 7-25 times more emissions than its previous version. 

How? As OpenAI doesn’t provide that data, Ecologits takes the closest open source model to GPT4-o, and works out its estimate from there.

Indeed, it’s often said that you can’t improve what you can’t measure, and this is a clear advantage of open source models. Not just in terms of measuring their impact, but also measuring their compliance with key ethical standards, e.g. 

. This is precisely the role of Giskard.ai, whose CEO Alex Combessie also speaks at ai-PULSE 2024.

Be sure to join us on November 7 to discover more examples of how the future of AI will need models that are compact, specialized, sustainable and ethical.

AI sovereignty is proving to be just as rich a trend as sustainability, if not more so. The rapid dominance of OpenAI and other US providers is now leading to an essential, recurring question: what happens to my data, and that of my users, if I rely on a foreign provider?

Given the increasing opacity of such providers, the need for sovereign, open source AI solutions is becoming ever more pressing. Why, indeed, should a national government want to use AI tools that cannot guarantee the safeguarding of its citizens’ data?

This is why, in an increasingly fragmented world, digital sovereignty and open source are more important today than ever; and why this third ai-PULSE 2024 theme promises to be one of its most fascinating.

As iliad Group Founder Xavier Niel put it at ai-PULSE last year, “Do we want our children using solutions that aren’t created in Europe? No. So how can we have products that fit our needs better?”

Building AI capacity within Europe ensures full control over data. Relying on open source technologies assures greater freedom and flexibility, whilst reducing dependence on foreign providers and enhancing resilience in case of global disruptions. So this is precisely what our speakers will dive into on November 7.

Open source AI is not just better for transparency and independence. Of course, it ensures that enterprises maintain control over their AI infrastructure, without being vulnerable to sudden licensing changes or vendor lock-in.

But open source is also arguably one of the key factors behind AI’s recent explosive growth. Open source projects like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Hugging Face have provided powerful, accessible tools that have allowed researchers and developers to rapidly prototype, experiment, and iterate. This fast learning curve has been further accelerated by the open source ecosystem’s global community, whose collaborative DNA has enabled many of the shared breakthroughs behind some of today’s most state-of-the-art AI models.

“Open weight” models, such as Meta’s Llama or Mistral 7B, have notably been at the forefront of AI innovation precisely because they are built to allow anyone to scrutinize them, and to let all users fine-tune them to meet specific needs.

And if the performance of some ‘pure’ open source models, such as Falcon 180, are catching up with ‘closed’ 

, it’s also largely thanks to said models’ openness, which allows for more collaborative innovation.

These are just some of the reasons we can’t wait to hear speakers like Laurent Mazaré, CTO of French AI innovation lab Kyutai, at ai-PULSE 2024. Built on the principles of “open science”, Kyutai’s work is 100% transparent, and as such usable by anyone… (including OpenAI!) Co-founded in part by GAFAM alumni, Kyutai is a great example of cross-atlantic tech innovation, as demonstrated by the recently-released 

, the first ever AI chatbot capable of displaying emotion. Which was, of course, trained on Scaleway’s GPU cluster!

Other speakers diving into the importance of building autonomous European AI solutions will be renowned investor Gabriel de Vinzelles of Frst; Eliot Andres, CTO of French AI imagery unicorn PhotoRoom; and Laurent Daudet, co-CEO of LightOn.

Big, Efficient and Open - ai-PULSE 2024's themes explained

“Every region and every country needs to build their sovereign AI that reflects their own language and culture. Europe has some of the largest industrial manufacturing companies. The second wave of AI is the expansion of generative AI all around the world.” - Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO, NVIDIA at aiPULSE 2023.

If Scaleway can today offer the European cloud’s most powerful AI compute capacity, it’s largely thanks to NVIDIA’s unflinching support in providing countless H100s and other high-end GPUs to our clients. That "second wave of AI" is happening right now, and it’s built on the unique relationship between our two companies.

That’s why we’re delighted that NVIDIA is now confirmed as ai-PULSE 2024’s next founding partner! Be sure to pre-register now to meet with NVIDIA’s expert staff, at STATION F on November 7 and propulse your AI projects to the next level. 


NVIDIA's presence at ai-PULSE

The themes of ai-PULSE 2024 are BIG, EFFICIENT & OPEN. These themes will be discussed throughout the morning’s visionary keynotes. Confirmed speakers already include:

The BIG, EFFICIENT & OPEN themes will then be explored in more detail in a series of technical workshops throughout the afternoon.

Delegates will also be able to meet exhibitors from all corners of the AI world, notably founding partners Ampere Computing, AMD, Dell Technologies, Intel and NVIDIA, as well as VAST Data, Allianz accelerator, Quandela and more.

“We couldn’t be more excited to host the second edition of ai-PULSE,” said Scaleway CEO Damien Lucas. “Offering the European cloud’s greatest AI compute capacity puts Scaleway in an ideal position to support the entire continent’s burgeoning startup scene, and to help drive innovation across all sectors. We look forward to welcoming some 1,500 VIPs to Station F on November 7, and changing the future of AI together!”

Latest News

Scaleway affirms AI’s Big, Efficient & Open future at ai-PULSE 2024

ai-PULSE 2024's themes: Big, Efficient and Open

Big, Efficient and Open - ai-PULSE 2024's themes explained

NVIDIA's presence at ai-PULSE

All the major players in today’s AI ecosystem will be joining Scaleway at ai-PULSE