Microsoft has announced a new partnership with Mistral AI, a French startup often compared to OpenAI. This alliance reflects Microsoft's ambition to expand its presence in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence.
As part of the investment, Microsoft has pledged support for Mistral AI, a company established just ten months ago and valued at 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion). The aim is to uncover new business opportunities and expand its global market presence, although the financial details of the investment remain undisclosed.
Under the terms of the partnership, Mistral's large language models (LLMs), the core technology behind generative AI products, will be accessible on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform. This makes Mistral the second company, after OpenAI, to host its LLMs on Azure.
The collaboration will also facilitate Mistral's introduction of its multilingual conversational assistant, "Le Chat" (French for "the cat"), which operates similarly to ChatGPT, to a broader customer base.
Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, described the partnership with Mistral AI as a significant step in supporting European technology. He emphasized the long-term collaboration, which will enable Mistral AI to train and deploy its next-generation AI models on Microsoft's AI data centers immediately.
The partnership comes amid increased regulatory scrutiny on Microsoft regarding its investment in OpenAI. However, Smith reiterated Microsoft's commitment to offering diverse product offerings and fostering technological innovation and growth in Europe.
Furthermore, the investment in Mistral AI will also allocate funds for research and development, particularly focusing on AI models for public sector services in Europe.
In addition to the partnership with Mistral AI, Microsoft's Azure AI Studio will be integrated into Telefónica's digital ecosystem, Kernel, allowing staff to leverage generative AI language models for data interpretation.
This announcement coincides with other major technology companies like Google and Amazon ramping up their investments in AI, reflecting the growing excitement and market interest in this emerging technology, which was further highlighted by record-high market performance from Nvidia, a leading AI chipmaker, last week.
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