VivaTech Day 2: from machine to data, and from data to AI
From machine to data. And from data to AI.
Today is my birthday.
A good occasion to step back in the middle of VivaTech and look at how far we’ve come.
There is something quite dizzying about connecting these eras.
Hardware first
The Commodore 64 was hardware. The machine above all.
You waited for the cassette to load, sometimes for a long time, to see a few lines of pixels appear. Every byte counted. Every optimization was an art.
Then came PCs, floppy disks, the first software environments.
The center of gravity shifted.
Less the machine.
More the software.
We were no longer only building objects. We were building uses.
Systems. Applications. Experiences.
Hardware was becoming abstract. Software was becoming the playground.
The third shift
And now, a third shift, silent but massive.
Software is not disappearing. It is becoming a layer.
What matters now is what feeds it.
Data.
And today, at VivaTech, this shift is everywhere.
We no longer talk only about products. We talk about flows, pipelines, systems in motion.
Software has become an orchestrator. And data, the fuel.
From data to AI
But there is yet another step.
Because data alone is not enough.
It must be activated.
This is where AI enters the stage.
No longer as an experimental layer. But as an engine.
An engine that continuously consumes data to produce decisions, actions, recommendations.
An engine that turns data into value.
A complete chain
What this second day makes very visible is this complete chain:
Each step redefined the previous one. Each step shifted the center of value creation.
And today, that center is clear.
It lies in the ability to collect, understand, connect and activate data at scale.
On the Crédit Agricole booth
On the Crédit Agricole booth, this reality takes a very concrete form.
The exchanges, the roundtables, the informal discussions all converge on the same questions:
The feedback from the field is precious.
We talk less about what we want to do and much more about what actually works.
The use cases are there. So are the constraints.
And above all, a shared clarity:
AI does not create value on its own.
It reveals the maturity of existing systems.
A time for reunions
This second day is also a special moment.
A time for reunions.
With our users. With our mentors. With the accelerators that supported us.
Those who were there at the start. Those who challenged us. Those who helped us structure.
In an ecosystem that evolves so fast, these points of continuity matter.
They remind us that behind technologies, there are human journeys.
Accumulated learnings. Intuitions validated or not. Pivots.
A convergence
What strikes you in these conversations is a form of convergence.
A few years ago, everyone was exploring. Today, the lines are converging.
The same problems emerge:
And the same conclusions come back.
We can no longer separate data from its context.
We can no longer freeze data.
We can no longer wait to decide.
In this world, AI operates as a flow.
It does not stop. It learns. It adapts.
But for that, it depends on a foundation.
A foundation still often underestimated.
The ability to circulate data that is reliable, understandable and contextualized.
Less demonstration, more grounding
This second day of VivaTech is less demonstrative than the first. But it is deeper.
Less about projection. More about grounding.
It talks less about promises. More about the conditions for success.
And somehow, this return to fundamentals echoes the path we’ve traveled.
From the Commodore 64 to today, one constant remains:
technology advances in layers.
And at each step, an illusion: thinking that the new layer replaces the previous ones.
When in reality, it makes them even more critical.
AI does not erase software. Software does not erase hardware.
And data? It forces us to rethink the whole.
A consolidation phase
What VivaTech day 2 shows is that we are entering a consolidation phase.
A phase where value will no longer come from the “wow” effect. But from the ability to run, at scale, complex systems.
Reliably. Continuously.
And maybe the real link between the nostalgia of the Commodore 64 and today’s copilots comes down to a simple idea:
it is not technology that makes the difference.
It is the way you integrate it into a coherent system.
The playground has changed.
But the challenge remains the same.
Turning innovation into impact. 🚀
Are you at VivaTech this week? Meet the Vokse team on site — and (re)read our Day 1 field notes.