CMA CGM Chairman Rodolphe Saadé is making waves in the business world by investing in ventures outside of the company’s core container shipping segment. This includes building a media division, an air cargo business, and a foray into artificial intelligence.
Saadé recently announced Kyutai, an AI open science lab that will focus on developing large multimodal models and inventing new algorithms to enhance their capacities, reliability, and efficiency. The lab will use computing power from Scaleway, part of Niel’s tech empire, with some of the highest-performance computing power for AI applications in Europe.
Kyutai was founded jointly by Niel’s iliad Group, CMA CGM, and Schmidt Futures and has received nearly EUR300m in investments so far. The venture aims to democratize AI and share its advances with the entire AI ecosystem, including scientists, developers, companies, and decision-makers in democracies.
Saadé expressed his desire for the younger generation to benefit from the opportunities of AI through Kyutai. He believes that researchers need access to resources to create and invent the world of tomorrow. The CMA CGM Group’s involvement in AI research is driven by a desire to put France and Europe at the forefront of artificial intelligence research while creating a dynamic and innovative ecosystem that keeps businesses competitive. Saadé emphasized that joining forces is key to preparing for the future in the realm of AI.
With these ambitious plans underway, it seems like there’s no stopping Rodolphe Saadé as he continues to push boundaries both within CMA CGM and beyond its core business segments.