France’s economic and finance ministries have announced the creation of a new Directorate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, marking the first time a French government ministry has explicitly incorporated artificial intelligence into the remit and title of one of its central administrative bodies.
The new body, known by its French acronym DIAN, will be responsible for defining and implementing the digital and artificial intelligence strategy across the ministries overseen by Bercy, the headquarters of France’s economic and financial administration. It replaces the existing digital service within the ministries’ general secretariat.
The move comes as French authorities seek to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence within public services, amid broader efforts to modernise government operations and strengthen the country’s digital sovereignty. Officials said AI is increasingly reshaping working methods, administrative structures and the design of public policy.
The ministries said the creation of DIAN forms part of a wider initiative to use artificial intelligence to improve public sector performance and enhance the quality of services provided to citizens and businesses.
A new artificial intelligence roadmap for the 2026 to 2027 period is due to be published by the end of June. According to the government, the strategy will comply with France’s 2024 law regulating the digital space, existing guidance on public procurement in digital projects, and the state’s “cloud at the centre” doctrine, which favours the use of private cloud computing providers.
The roadmap is expected to outline several priorities for the deployment of artificial intelligence across Bercy’s administrations. These include providing all staff with secure access to AI tools suited to their professional needs, building on shared interministerial digital systems, developing applications based on operational requirements, pooling computing resources and infrastructure, and accelerating the creation of AI agents and applications.
The strategy will also seek to transform software development practices through the use of artificial intelligence, while strengthening digital and AI governance at both ministerial and cross government levels.
The government said the initiative would be supported by a large scale programme of training and guidance for civil servants to ensure employees can make effective use of emerging artificial intelligence technologies in their day to day work.
The announcement was made jointly by Economy and Finance Minister Roland Lescure, Minister for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Commerce, Craft Industries, Tourism and Purchasing Power Serge Papin, Minister for Public Action and Public Accounts David Amiel, and Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs Anne Le Hénanff.
