The tech talent war goes up a notch in France - Criteo invests €20 million in an AI laboratory in Paris

Criteo, a French specialist in retargeting advertising listed on the Nasdaq, has just announced the creation of an artificial intelligence laboratory in Paris, in which it will invest 20 million euros over three years.

Suju Rajan, the current research director of the group, will lead this center called Criteo AI Lab (CAIL).

Criteo, which employs 3,000 people worldwide, plans to recruit 150 researchers and engineers in Paris, Palo Alto and Grenoble to make the ads you see “more relevant, seen as information and not visual pollution”.

“This is a long-term project. We are lucky to have the financial means to achieve our ambitions. Let’s take advantage of it,” commented Criteo co-founder and CEO Jean-Baptiste Rudelle at a press conference on Wednesday, June 27, 2017.

This is one more proof that AI has become a trending and tense topic for recruiting talent. With this move, Criteo responds to Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Samsung who have made announcements in this direction in recent months.

Microsoft has announced an investment of $ 30 million over three years in France to develop a “trusted AI”.

Facebook announced at the end of January that it would invest 10 million euros in France in the field of AI, where it already has a research center, FAIR.

Asked if these announcements from the tech giants were a problem, Jean-Baptiste Rudelle said that they were mainly made to “public relations reasons“, while hoping that they will not create a “predatory” and perverse effect of increasing the value of profiles.

“We want this market to remain healthy, that it is not destabilized. We’re not making AI for AI’s sake. This is a long-term investment.”

Criteo generates more than $2 billion in annual sales.

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