Killian Vermersch, CEO of Golem.ai, shares his vision of AI in Europe, emphasizing the importance of local innovation, frugality, and explainability. Focusing on the insurance sector, he discusses the challenges of European technological sovereignty, regulatory issues, and the opportunities presented by ethical and accessible AI, while highlighting the growing impact of the digital workplace on the jobs of tomorrow.
In the workplace, AI does not replace employees but assists them. "Today, employees and companies share the same goal: AI that reduces repetitive tasks and improves the quality of interactions," notes Killian Vermersch.
This shift is particularly evident in managing incoming workflows. Golem.ai automates the sorting and analysis of customer requests, allowing employees to be more efficient and accurate. "One of our B2B e-commerce clients reduced their response time to commercial inquiries by a factor of six," he illustrates.
Two principles guide Golem.ai's work: frugality (solutions that are energy-efficient and much lighter than generative AI) and explainability (through transparent and traceable systems). This approach is particularly valued in sectors such as insurance and the public service, where understanding AI-driven decisions is crucial.
Killian Vermersch illustrates the need for regulation by drawing a parallel with aviation accidents: "We often hear about the safety of Airbus versus Boeing planes. In reality, strong regulations and enhanced transparency standards have allowed Airbus to better control its systems and improve safety. AI in Europe is following a similar trajectory."
For example, the AI Act, which regulates AI usage in Europe, requires insurers to justify automated or AI-assisted decisions. Unlike in the U.S., where AI can approve or deny a claim without clear justification, European insurers must guarantee transparency in every process. This is a useful constraint that strengthens trust and can even boost the economy in the long run.
"France tends to be self-critical about its technological lag. But why do we have this lag? Too often, we assume that American solutions are superior and should be adopted by default. If we reversed this mindset, we could change the dynamic and strengthen our competitiveness," explains Killian Vermersch.
According to him, the key lies in a virtuous cycle: the more French and European companies adopt local solutions, the more they foster growth and improvement. "We have a distinct French innovation that combines frugality and ethics." At Golem.ai, this translates into a language analysis and understanding technology that is both sustainable and transparent.
The era when AI was merely an experimental topic is over. Today, it's no longer about testing AI for its own sake but ensuring a tangible return on investment for clients. The Proofs of Concept (POC) conducted by Golem.ai are designed to address specific business use cases with measurable impact from the outset.
Golem.ai is committed to promoting European artificial intelligence, tailored to the continent's regulatory and linguistic realities. "Unlike Anglo-Saxon solutions, our AI natively supports more than 30 languages without intermediate translations. This is a significant advantage for European businesses," he points out.
Digital sovereignty is also a major issue. "Many French startups build their products on American infrastructures, which weakens our independence. Working with European players like Scaleway helps keep value and expertise within Europe."
In sectors such as insurance, handling data flows is a challenge. Take automobile claims, for example: analyzing a variety of complex documents, such as accident reports, in record time is crucial. These documents require quick decision-making.
Golem.ai's AI automatically extracts key information from attachments, making decisions more objective while speeding up processing. "This automation improves service quality and speed. An expert can generate a draft response, modify it if necessary, and then send it."
The impact is significant: "We have enabled 1,200 experts to reclaim more than 15% of their total working time. Our goal is to achieve an additional 10% efficiency gain. The return on investment is impressive—20 to 30 times the initial investment—thanks to time savings, reduced errors, and improved customer relations."
Golem.ai serves major clients in the public sector, retail, and insurance industries, where regulatory compliance is particularly demanding.
In the public sector, Golem.ai has launched a document flow management project with the Ministry of the Armed Forces. "When handling public data, security becomes an absolute priority. We have also worked with a major medical order, where we must ensure a system that is both reliable in terms of result quality and data security. In fact, we collaborated with Scaleway to understand the security processes in place."
In the energy and insurance sectors, the need for reliable AI is just as critical. "Insurers are particularly keen on solutions like ours, and in some domains, explainability is crucial. Today, these requirements are becoming standard. We have therefore worked with Scaleway to make our solution operable on their infrastructures."
For AI to be effectively adopted and used by businesses, it must be explainable and aligned with clearly identified business needs. "What can slow down an AI project isn’t just technical constraints, but the lack of clear use cases upfront," emphasizes Killian Vermersch.
Explainability is a key driver: it allows companies to understand AI-driven decisions and build trust. Moreover, it ensures better adoption by employees, offering them visibility into decision-making criteria. Finally, market maturity plays a decisive role. AI must meet customer expectations, anticipate future needs, and, above all, fit into a precise business framework. By combining business expertise with technological performance, we can offer truly impactful solutions.
Golem.ai continues to innovate by integrating different AI approaches, particularly neuro-symbolic AI. "The goal is to make different AI systems interact and gradually enhance our solutions. One of our latest advancements is a vision engine capable of recognizing images and integrating generative AI to expand customer message typologies, broadening the range of applications."
The company is also working on reducing its client onboarding time, which currently takes two to three weeks.
Golem.ai aims to establish itself in Europe, a multicultural and multilingual market. "Our AI is naturally strong in multilingual capabilities, unlike other solutions that are limited to three or four languages. We have already worked on projects in Poland and Hungary, as well as with many French clients operating internationally." He also notes that GDPR regulations provide a real advantage in this context.
Finally, sovereignty is a central issue. "Many French AIs are built with American technologies and hosted on AWS. A large portion of the investment ultimately goes to Amazon, Google, or Microsoft. We must ensure that European funding is used to develop local solutions and strengthen the European ecosystem."
Killian Vermersch concludes: "Today, everyone is talking about AI, but it is still not widely deployed in everyday operations. The transition from innovation to return on investment depends on performance, frugality, and explainability.
At Golem.ai, we are committed to these three pillars, in collaboration with partners like Scaleway, who share our values of transparency and energy efficiency." A vision that could very well shape the future of artificial intelligence in Europe.
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