Microsoft Partners with Mistral AI, a French Startup, to Boost its AI Capabilities
Microsoft partners with Mistral AI, a French startup, to enhance its AI offerings. Mistral AI releases its own chatbot, Le Chat, generating significant interest. Mistral AI's flagship model, Mistral Large, to be available on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.
Microsoft has announced a new partnership with Mistral AI, a French startup, in a move that could reduce the tech giant's reliance on OpenAI for its chatbot and generative AI products. Mistral AI, which has quickly gained recognition as an "innovator and trailblazer," is at the forefront of developing efficient and cost-effective AI systems.
While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Microsoft confirmed that it involves a small investment in Mistral AI. This investment is significantly smaller than Microsoft's multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI, a partnership that has drawn the attention of antitrust regulators in the US and Europe.
Mistral AI made headlines on Monday with the release of its own chatbot, named Le Chat. The public test version of the chatbot garnered so much interest that it temporarily overwhelmed the system, causing it to be unavailable for part of the day.
In addition to the chatbot, Mistral AI also unveiled its latest large language model, Mistral Large. The company claims that this model is on par with competitors such as OpenAI's GPT-4, Anthropic's Claude 2, and Google's Gemini Pro. Mistral Large will be available on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform. Mistral has also expressed plans to collaborate with other major cloud providers, including Amazon and Google.
Mistral AI has quickly gained recognition in the industry, securing significant investor funding and achieving a multibillion-dollar valuation within months of its founding. The startup was established by three former French researchers from Google and Meta: CEO Arthur Mensch, Chief Scientist Guillaume Lample, and Chief Technology Officer Timothee Lacroix.
One notable aspect of Mistral AI's approach is its commitment to an "open-source" development model. The company publicly releases key components of some AI systems, in contrast to companies like OpenAI that closely guard their technology. However, Mistral Large, the flagship model, will not be open-source, according to the company's website.
Despite the announcement, Mistral AI has not provided any comments or statements regarding the partnership with Microsoft.
It is worth noting that Mistral AI has been vocal in its opposition to certain aspects of AI regulations. When the European Union was finalising its Artificial Intelligence Act, Mistral pushed back against restrictions on foundation models that power generative AI systems. The company's CEO, Arthur Mensch, expressed concerns that such regulations would discourage innovation from newcomers in the industry.
Microsoft partners with Mistral AI, a French startup, to enhance its AI offerings
Mistral AI releases its own chatbot, Le Chat, generating significant interest
Mistral AI's flagship model, Mistral Large, to be available on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform
Source: AP NEWS