European Cyber Week: Conference on AI featuring Thales, Orange, and the Military Blocked in Rennes

Press Release – Anti-Tech Resistance – November 20, 2024

European Cyber Week : technocrates et militaires de salon prennent les Français pour des pigeons en affirmant que l'Intelligence Artificielle (IA) va renforcer leur sécurité et leur souveraineté

Desk-bound Technocrats and Military Leaders Take the French for Fools by Claiming Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Enhance Their Security and Sovereignty

Despite heavy security, Anti-Tech Resistance succeeded in canceling a conference during European Cyber Week, an event held from November 18–21 in the city of Rennes, France. The event was backed by what we call the "technocratic mafia"—organizations like INRIA, CNRS, Thalès, Airbus, Orange, and the Ministry of Defense’s AI agency (Amiad). These groups fraudulently claim that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will “enhance national security” and “strengthen digital sovereignty.” Their attempts to suppress our message of warning only prove that they see it as a threat.

Huge sums of public money are being funneled into the AI industry without any democratic consultation, despite the evident catastrophic impacts on society and the environment. These include job destruction, dehumanization, resource exploitation, environmental degradation, and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Amiad, set to establish its technical hub in Rennes, is poised to receive €300 million annually. From 2024 to 2030, the French state plans to invest €2 billion in AI for defense purposes.

We cannot allow a small group of unaccountable technocrats to impose their agenda on everyone. Nor can we let them relentlessly promote AI, a technology identified by leading scientists as one of the greatest existential threats to humanity and life on Earth.

Why We Oppose AI Deployment‍

1. Technocrats claim to work for France's sovereignty, yet they allow Microsoft to invest over €4 billion to build new data centers on our soil—energy guzzlers that create very few jobs. AI and the entire digital industry rely on undersea cables carrying 99% of global data, with an increasing number owned by American tech giants. Who are they kidding?
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2. Technocrats claim to be ensuring the safety of the French, yet the rise of digital technologies has made individuals, small businesses, municipalities, and local governments vulnerable to new forms of crime. A 2022 Interpol report highlights how organized crime, corruption, and terrorism have been "profoundly transformed and strengthened by technological innovations, and even more so by digital technologies." What happens when terrorist groups get their hands on powerful AI systems? How can AI ensure security when studies predict 70% of jobs may be replaced or deeply transformed by it?
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3. Technocrats claim to protect the French, yet AI is already being used to intensify surveillance, data profiling, and repression. History has repeatedly shown that the state does not hesitate to resort to extreme violence to "pacify" its population. What will happen when AI systems, like those developed by the Israeli military (e.g., Lavender, which enabled the killing of over 40,000 people in Gaza within a year), are used by the state to suppress social unrest sparked by upcoming shortages?
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4. Technocrats demand sacrifices from the French, such as energy consumption rationing, while simultaneously developing AI technologies that consume vast amounts of energy, water, and materials. The hypocrisy is staggering!
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5. Environmental Degradation
   They claim AI will solve ecological issues, yet this technology amplifies the already immense environmental footprint of digital technologies. This sector generates 3–4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, growing by 6% annually, according to the Shift Project. In Isère, STMicroelectronics and Soitec pollute the equivalent of 29,000 cubic meters of water daily—12 Olympic pools—to produce electronic chips. How does plundering and polluting drinking water contribute to the security of the French people?

We urge all those who care about preserving nature, democracy, and freedom to resist alongside us. We must denounce the terrifying threat AI poses to humanity.

Let us take pride in being the vanguard of resistance in Rennes against the technological dystopia the technocratic class is preparing for us. Together, let’s organize the fightback!

Anti-Tech Resistance, Rennes Local Group