European AI A “champion” sets his sights on tech giants in the United States

Mistral, a French start-up seen as a promising challenger to OpenAI and Google, enjoys the support of European leaders who want to protect culture and politics of the region.

Arthur Mensch, tall and thin with a shock of unkempt hair, arrived last month for a speech at a sprawling Paris tech hub, dressed in jeans and of a bicycle helmet. He had the modest air of the person European officials are counting on to help propel the region into a high-stakes matchup with the United States and China over artificial intelligence.

Mr. . Mensch, 31, is the chief executive and one of the founders of Mistral, considered by many to be one of the most promising challengers to OpenAI and Google. “You have become the poster child for AI. in France," Matt Clifford, a British investor, told him on stage.

A lot depends on Mr. Mensch, whose company became famous just one year ago after he founded it in Paris with two college friends. As Europe struggles to gain a foothold in the AI ​​revolution, the French government has named Mistral as its best hope to create a gateway -flag and put pressure on European Union policymakers to help ensure the company's success.

Artificial Intelligence These economies are growing will rapidly integrate into the global economy over the coming decade, and European policymakers and business leaders fear that growth and competitiveness will suffer if the region does not keep pace. hides the belief that A.I. The world should not be dominated by tech giants, like Microsoft and Google, who could develop global standards at odds with the culture and politics of other countries. The issue is which models of artificial intelligence will ultimately influence the world and how they should be regulated.

“The problem of not having a European champion is that the road map is set by the United States,” said Mr. Mensch, who just 18 months ago worked as an engineer at Google’s DeepMind lab in Paris, developing AI. models. Its co-founders, Timothée Lacroix and Guillaume Lample, also in their 30s, held similar positions at Meta.

In an interview in the spartan, whitewashed offices Mistral limestone facing the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, Mr Mensch said it "wasn't prudent to trust" US tech giants to lay down the ground rules for a powerful new technology that would affect millions of lives.

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