FRENCH shipping giant CMA CGM Group has joined ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt to develop what it calls a lab for "open research in artificial intelligence" based in Paris.

The lab, called Kyutai, is co-founded by the CMA CGM Group, Mr Schmidt's investment arm called Schmidt Ventures, and Xavier Niel, head of the French telecom provider iliad Group.

iliad Group and CMA CGM Group each contributed EUR100 million (US$109 million) to fund the research laboratory, with Kyutai "seeking to bring other private investors on board," the carrier said in a statement.

"Kyutai will be operated as a non-profit with an objective to tackle the main challenges of modern AI, particularly by developing large multimodal models - using text but also sound, images, etc - and by inventing new algorithms to enhance their capacities, reliability and efficiency," it said.

Computing power will be provided by Scaleway, an iliad Group subsidiary, reports New York's Journal of Commerce.

The CMA CGM Group's decision to get involved was driven by a desire to place France and the rest of Europe at the forefront of artificial intelligence research," president and CEO Rodolphe Saade said in the statement. "We need to create a dynamic and innovative ecosystem to keep our businesses competitive. Joining forces is the best way to prepare for the future."

"By creating an AI open research lab here in Paris, we're stepping up the pace even further," Mr Niel said in the statement. "Kyutai will give us ultra-high performing [and] reliable AI models, which the entire European AI ecosystem will be able to benefit from."