Thales and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) have partnered to push the boundaries oartf generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the defence and security sectors.
This collaborative effort aims to deliver sovereign, trusted AI solutions by combining the expertise of Thales’s AI research teams at cortAIx, the Group’s AI accelerator, with CEA’s capabilities in multimodal generative AI.
The three-year renewable agreement will see Thales leveraging its deep knowledge of the defence and security industries, while the CEA will contribute its proficiency in managing diverse inputs such as text, images, audio, and electromagnetic signals.
This collaboration is expected to hasten the integration of AI into mission-critical solutions for Thales customers, Thales said in a news release.
Bertrand Tavernier, chief technical officer for Thales’s Secure Communications and Information Systems business, emphasized the importance of this partnership: “This partnership with the CEA’s AI teams will combine the power of their research with our work at cortAIx, Thales’s AI accelerator, which brings together the Group’s technological expertise and deep knowledge of the defence and security sectors.”
He added, “Our customers — governments, armed forces, critical infrastructure operators — need trusted, sovereign generative AI solutions for their critical missions.”
Both entities, listed among the Clarivate Analytics Top 100 Global Innovators, will focus on developing generative AI use cases, particularly for intelligence and command applications.
“This partnership builds on the long-standing collaboration between the CEA and Thales and extends it to the sensitive issue of generative AI, combining the expertise and excellence of the CEA’s research teams in AI safety and security with cortAIx’s strengths in the strategic domain of defence and security,” said Alexandre Bounouh, director of the CEA’s List Institute.
He continued, “It will support the CEA’s mission in safety, security, and artificial intelligence with our partners and all institutional and industry stakeholders in this field.”
Thales’s cortAIx Lab and CEA will also emphasise interoperability within coalitions, simplifying communication between member states during joint operations.
Generative AI will facilitate interactions by translating operators’ intentions into actionable sequences and converting technical jargon into various languages.
