In my previous essay [1], I developed a political idea: sovereignty does not stop at the choice of model, it includes the way we design what the tool does, for whom, and according to what logic. I called this “conception of use”. Several readers asked me the same question: what does that mean in practice?
Rarely has a technology so suddenly dominated strategic conversations, roadmaps, and investment decisions as AI does today. Displaying one's adoption has become a signal, sent to markets, boards, and clients, sometimes before the use itself has even been defined. Adopt first, look for the problem later.The social and environmental impact sector is caught up in the same dynamic.
France is going through a heatwave unlike anything it has seen, and summer has barely begun. Daily life is becoming unbearable: schools are asking parents to keep their children home so they do not bake in classrooms at 35 °C, construction workers are risking their lives, and those who can stay shut away in the dark at home. Yet the bulk of activity carries on as if nothing were happening. Everything is ill-adapted, but we keep going, suffering, waiting for it to pass.
Autonomous vehicles are currently presented as one of the most promising technological breakthroughs in mobility. Safer roads, fewer emissions, better access to transport, more efficient systems: the list of expected benefits is long, and by now familiar. These promises are not just speculative. They are already structuring industrial strategies and public policies.