Xavier Niel, a Driving Force of French AI, Is Now Shaping TikTok
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I wait to meet Xavier Niel in a room that feels fitting for one of France’s richest men. Gold encrusted walls frame a boardroom table the size of a small swimming pool. And beyond the large windows, a lily pond.
Niel is the original French internet mogul, of the generation before founders wore t-shirts to the office. His team wears suits; he arrives in a classic white shirt. Niel might ooze establishment now but his fortune is rooted in Minitel Rose, the “erotic chat” service he launched as a teenager. Later, he graduated to telecoms and the company he founded in the 90s, Iliad, is now one of Europe’s major mobile operators. He’s also co-owner of French newspaper Le Monde.
Niel, a former hacker who never went to college, has always been preoccupied with disruption. Over the past year, he—and his money—have become an engine powering the rising French AI industry. Niel is not building models himself. Instead he considers his role to be more paternalistic. “I'm the old guy who likes entrepreneurs,” he explains to me, across the boardroom in Paris. Earlier this year, Niel took a surprise step onto the international stage when ByteDance announced the French billionaire would become a board member. The TikTok owner enlisted Niel as it faces growing legal problems, especially in the US. Amid concern that the Chinese government could access TikTok user data, President Biden signed a law in April that bans TikTok in the US unless ByteDance sells the platform to a US-approved buyer. ByteDance sued in response, meaning the case is likely to end up in court.
