Forget STEM. Paris university head says secret to France’s AI brains is a focus on the humanities

Frederic Arnault (C), son of French luxury group LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, and student of the Ecole Polytechnique (Special military school of Polytechnique), attends the preparation of the annual Bastille Day military parade on July 14, 2015 in Paris, France. (Credit: Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images))

France’s universities are fast becoming a hunting ground for investors hungry to unravel the source of the next AI revolution.

But if investors are expecting their next billionaire founder to be the archetypal nerd writing code, they will likely be surprised to find a multilingual, sporty Parisian undergrad with a penchant for the arts pitching their multibillion-dollar idea instead.