Generative AI threatens the creative economy. Yet this is Europe's primary competitive advantage. While European governments struggle to negotiate with Big Tech, Vincent Lorphelin and Christian Saint-Etienne propose a “sacemization” of intellectual creation.
It has long been known that Europe is sinking into digital vassalage because, unlike the United States and China, it is absent from all strategic positions, including artificial intelligence. This is the consequence of its bureaucratic organization, which lacks vision and ambition for power.
For the AI Act, in particular, everything got off to a bad start. The French government, wanting to protect its gem Mistral from the claims of authors who were crying foul over the plundering of their works by ChatGPT, Dall-E, Suno, and their competitors, supported the voice of Big Tech. In February, it did an about-face to stop pitting AI against culture. But its initial policy line was extended by Sweden and Poland so as not to upset Donald Trump in the midst of tariff negotiations. The authors, who wanted to force remuneration for their works through the AI Act, have assessed their legal risks and are now ready to negotiate.
However, the balance of power is not completely uneven. Generative AI providers also need to limit their legal and reputational risks. We remember how Apple suffered from planned obsolescence and Meta from a lack of personal data security. Big Tech companies will want to avoid appearing to be predators of human creativity. They also need to ensure access to high-quality content databases in order to improve their offerings and prevent the degeneration of models through the over-recycling of artificial content.
Protecting the creative economy
What is at stake? The creative economy, of course, which is threatened with extinction by generative AI. But beyond the works of authors, the harvesting of expertise in law, journalism, medicine, and then in engineering, communication, and craftsmanship ultimately threatens all human capital. Yet this is Europe's primary competitive advantage, with its 450 million educated inhabitants. Authors and those who support them are on the front line, but they are indirectly defending all Europeans.
Unfortunately, the first stages of their negotiations are currently very tentative: SACEM, the leading French and global representative of authors, says it is in talks with GAFAM, while acknowledging that they are playing for time. In its “AI action strategy” report, the Ministry of Culture defers responsibility to the European Commission, which, for its part, is keeping the AI Act in a state of cautious uncertainty. The government, via Bpifrance, has announced “exceptional” support of €500 million for the music industry, which is in fact just a continuation of existing funding. In short, it's just enough to give the impression of taking action.
The importance of human capital
However, an ambitious strategy would consist first and foremost in developing a vision: restoring European power through human capital. We must reconnect with the spirit of competition through “useful knowledge,” the philosophical roots of Europe, and oppose the deadly ideology of the end of work, supposedly superseded by AI.
Secondly, a goal must be set: to create a sovereign, global platform for promoting human capital, an abundant, valuable, and renewable resource. Since social media contributors are often authors who are unaware of their status, this platform will collect all digital content eligible for intellectual property protection. The whole collection will be “sacemized,” meaning accessible for training generative AI, which will in turn remunerate creators in proportion to the relative usefulness of their works.
Thirdly, define business models by sector. It should be remembered that between 2000 and 2015, massive music piracy devastated the industry. By revaluing content from 0% to 70% of revenue, the legal streaming model, such as Spotify, has become dominant and has revived the sector. Remuneration algorithms will be subject to local governance based on our criteria for content originality, not those of the Americans and Chinese, which reflect their values.
Financial support and European project
Fourthly, providing financial support to operators and manufacturers to build an integrated, sovereign, and green infrastructure: energy, data centers, cybersecurity, and specialized microprocessors, ethical and frugal AI models, protected by key patents. Mistral's partnership with Nvidia to provide a technical environment for corporate AI, and MGX and Brookfield's investments in data centers are the first building blocks of the pyramid.
Fifth, develop an intergovernmental project with other European countries for an industrial ecosystem of human capital. This begins with developing skills in AI design and mastery, social skills to govern AI, and emotional skills to serve people with the help of AI, which will be necessary for the human resources revolution.
This essentially political project is within the reach of the French government, without waiting for the uncertain levers of the AI Act or US court decisions. By ambitiously and vigorously supporting the authors' negotiations, it can not only defend their creativity, but also build an industrial backbone for Europe.