About Le Latent: a French publication on AI, and what its English edition is

What Le Latent is

Le Latent is a French web magazine of news and explanations about consumer artificial intelligence, published in Paris and written in French, as its about page (in French) sets out. Its mission is not to summarise announcements: each article has to add something drawn from its sources, such as a calculation, a price in euros, a piece of data or some context.

“Independent” has a precise meaning here. The publisher is Bastien Hugon, a sole trader (entrepreneur individuel under French law) based in Paris, who is also the publication director and editor. Under the editorial charter (in French), no company covered by the magazine pays for, reviews or approves an article before publication. How the site is funded is described further down.

Why read about AI from Europe

Wherever they are built, AI products used in Europe have to follow European rules. The EU's AI Act applies to providers placing AI systems on the market in the Union “irrespective of whether those providers are established or located within the Union or in a third country”, according to Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, in its official English version. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies too, enforced by national regulators such as the CNIL, France's data protection authority.

Some of the documents behind those rules, such as French regulators' guidance or French government reports, are published in French. The English edition reads them, with the official EU texts, for readers outside France. A good place to start is the timeline of the EU AI Act after the 2026 delay, dated against the Official Journal. For the courts, see the two tests an Advocate General of the EU Court of Justice proposed for AI chatbots and the press publishers’ right.

What we cover

The French edition has five sections, and the English edition uses the same structure:

• News: models, apps, prices and announcements, checked against primary sources, in the News section.
• Lab: public AI rankings and benchmarks, explained: what each one measures and where it stops.
• Guides: AI at work, job by job, in the Guides section.
• Explainers: the ideas behind AI, explained simply and kept up to date.
• Society & Law: the AI Act, data protection, courts and regulators, in the Society & Law section.

An English section appears once it has at least one article in English.

How we work

Every article lists its primary sources at the end, each with the date it was consulted, and links them in the text. Corrections are dated, in the article and in a public log. Articles are written by collective desks with the help of AI, and published under the editorial direction of Bastien Hugon, who sets the rules each article must pass; this is explained on the editorial method page (in French), and in English on the editorial method page.

According to the transparency page (in French), AI never presents itself as a person, never invents a quote, a figure or a source, never runs a test, never gives a rating and never sets the editorial line. Automatic checks block any article that lacks dated primary sources or quotes linked to their source.

What we have not done

No product test has been published on Le Latent to date. A test can appear in the future on one condition: it has really been carried out by a named person, with its protocol published in the article (method, dates, versions and prompts). Until then, Le Latent gives no ratings of its own.

How it is funded

Since 31 October 2026, the French edition has shown Google AdSense advertising, with consent collected through Google's consent message, as stated on the transparency page (in French). There is no sponsored content and no affiliate partnership to date, and Le Latent takes no payment from the companies it covers for an article, a ranking or a rating. The English edition carries no advertising.

Why an English edition, and what it is

The English edition is a selection of articles written in English for readers outside France. It is not a machine translation of the site. Most articles adapt a French article: their sources are read again, French institutions are explained, and context that a French reader did not need is added. Not every French article has an English version, and the French edition remains the reference and the most complete. When an article exists in both languages, a link under the byline leads to the other version.

How to follow

• The English RSS feed, for English articles; the French feed is at /rss.xml (in French).
• The official accounts of Le Latent on X (@lelatent), Mastodon and Bluesky.
• A daily newsletter, written in French, with double opt-in (sign-up page, in French). There is no newsletter in English.

The English edition home page lists every article in English, newest at the top.

Corrections and contact

To report an error: corrections@lelatent.com. To write to the newsroom: redaction@lelatent.com. The policy and the log of corrections are on the corrections page (in French).