Mistral AI, artificial intelligence “Made in France”

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It is the bridgehead of a certain “French school” of AI that is emerging. The start-up Mistral AI made a lot of noise during the seventh edition of the VivaTech show in mid-June. It had just raised 105 million euros to support the development of an artificial intelligence model for businesses. A record amount of which 80% are arrowed in the computing power necessary to start. The platform is expected for the beginning of 2024.

The three young founders of Mistral AI did not file the statutes of their company until the beginning of May. The hexagonal ecosystem has been buzzing for some time with the upcoming occurrence of an innovative generative AI project. This ChatGPT professional version and “Made in France” is cut to compete with the American giants. However, it was an American fund, Lightspeed Venture, which led the round and brought in the biggest bet.

French ets

To support this hexagonal AI, Emmanuel Macron presented a training-oriented plan as well as a €50 million seed fund piloted by Bpifrance to bring out centers and champions. The country also has the ets of its talents. Excellence in French mathematics and the most prestigious schools, such as Polytechnique or ENS, produce excellent researchers in artificial intelligence.

Frenchman Yann LeCun, vice-president of Meta in charge of artificial intelligence, is one of the most famous examples of this “French school” of AI . He is not the only one. But if many do their initial training in France, they join at the time of the thesis or post-doctorate the United States where salaries sometimes quadruple.

La Story is a podcast from Les Echos presented by Pierrick Fay. This episode was recorded in June 2023. Editor-in-chief: Clémence Lemaistre. Guests: Raphaël Balenieri (journalist specializing in Telecoms at “Les Echos”) and Charlie Perreau (head of the Start-up department at “Echos”). Directed by: Willy Ganne. Music: Théo Boulenger. Graphic identity: Upian. Photo: iStock. Sounds: Benoit Hutin, “Four Boys in the Wind” (1964), Cargl, “Me, Ugly and Messy 3” (2017), Viva Technology, “Droopy” (1943), France 24.