PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Monday that France was in the race for artificial intelligence and called on attendees at the AI Action Summit in Paris to choose Europe for their business needs.

Clean electric power distinguishes France in addressing AI's vast energy consumption, he said.

"I have a good friend on the other side of the ocean saying 'drill, baby, drill.' Here, there is no need to drill. It's plug, baby, plug," he said.