Atlas report
AI researchers in France
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique is the largest, with 4 611 indexed researchers, 7.6 times Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique behind it. One institution sets the tone for the country.
The short answer
16 119 researchers in the index have an institution in France, the 7th largest count among 131 countries.
Among people who started since 2024, the subject gaining fastest in France is Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection: its share of newcomers is 3.2 times what it was over the three previous years, with 37 people starting on it.
Per million inhabitants, France has 236 AI researchers in the index against 85 worldwide, 2.8 times the world figure.
What stands out
The subject where France weighs most against the rest of the world is Semantic Web and Ontologies: 2.2% of its subject assignments work on it, 2 times the world share of 1.1%.
With 0.8% of the world's people and 2.3% of its indexed AI researchers, France runs at 2.8 times its demographic weight.
France gained 2 646 new researchers since 2024, 1.0 times the 2 532 of the three years before; the world ratio is 1.7.
Subjects
Topic Modeling is the largest subject in France, carried by 5.1% of its subject assignments.
Subject reports: Natural Language Processing Techniques, Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis.
| Subject | Researchers | Share here | Share worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic Modeling | 1 687 | 5.1% | 7.8% |
| Natural Language Processing Techniques | 1 426 | 4.3% | 4.2% |
| Advanced Neural Network Applications | 886 | 2.7% | 4.3% |
| Semantic Web and Ontologies | 747 | 2.2% | 1.1% |
| Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis | 673 | 2.0% | 2.6% |
| Neural Networks and Applications | 639 | 1.9% | 1.3% |
| Petri Nets in System Modeling | 106 | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection | 75 | 0.2% | 0.3% |
Newcomers by year
In 2025, the last full year, France gained 0.8 times as many new researchers as in an average year of the three before; the world figure is 0.8.
| First publication | New in France | Share of the world's newcomers |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 517 | 2.7% |
| 2020 | 572 | 2.8% |
| 2021 | 737 | 3.0% |
| 2022 | 987 | 3.0% |
| 2023 | 808 | 2.7% |
| 2024 | 790 | 2.7% |
| 2025 | 660 | 2.8% |
Institutions
35% of the country's researchers sit in three institutions, led by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique is the largest, with 4 611 indexed researchers, 7.6 times Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique behind it. One institution sets the tone for the country. Everyone else sits in places too small to name without pointing at individuals.
| Institution | Researchers | Share of the country |
|---|---|---|
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | 4 611 | 29% |
| Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique | 603 | 3.7% |
| Lyon 1 Université | 491 | 3.0% |
Compared with its peers
Read against Canada and South Korea, the two nearest countries by headcount, the differences are in the rates, not the totals. The gap that stands out is the researchers per million inhabitants: 236 here, below the 373 of those two. Reports: AI researchers in South Korea.
| France | Canada | South Korea | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers | 16 119 | 15 943 | 18 045 |
| Per million inhabitants | 236 | 398 | 349 |
| In a company | 8.6% | 11% | 9.2% |
| Early career | 46% | 51% | 43% |
| Newcomers, recent against previous window | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.7 |
Method
A country is where the institution sits, so someone who has moved and not yet published from the new address still counts at the old one. Counts move between two refreshes because the index grows every night. The method page sets out the sources and what each field leaves out.
Common questions
- How many AI researchers are there in France?
- 16 119 researchers in the Founding Hires index have an institution in France, 2.3% of all profiles with a known country, as of September 2026. The index counts people who published AI research, so this is a floor on the field, not a census.
- Where do you find AI researchers in France?
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 4 611, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique, 603, Lyon 1 Université, 491. Their most common subject is Topic Modeling, 5.1% of the country's subject assignments.
- What is France strongest in?
- Semantic Web and Ontologies, at 2 times the world share.
- Is the pool of AI researchers in France growing?
- Yes, slower than the world. Since 2024, 2 646 people in France published for the first time, against 2 532 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.0 where the world sits at 1.7.
The names behind the numbers
Every count on this page is a list in the index.
Search it by subject and country to find who leads the work today, and set an alert on the ones about to come free, for $179 a month or 149 € in the euro area. Or hand the search over and pay only when someone joins.