Microsoft inks deal with France's Mistral AI, an OpenAI rival that has its own chatbot

Microsoft announced an artificial intelligence partnership Monday with the French startup Mistral AI that could lessen the software giant's reliance on ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for supplying the next wave of chatbots and other generative AI products.

Mistral AI emerged less than a year ago but is already what Microsoft described Monday as an “innovator and trailblazer” at the vanguard of building more efficient and cost-effective AI systems.

Microsoft and Mistral didn't disclose the financial terms of the deal, though Microsoft said it involves a small investment in the Paris-based startup. That suggests it is far smaller than Microsoft's investment of billions of dollars into OpenAI, a years-long relationship that has attracted the scrutiny of antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe.

Mistral also on Monday released a public test version of its own chatbot, called Le Chat, that apparently was flooded with so much interest that a company executive said it was temporarily unavailable for part of Monday.

The company also announced its newest large language model, Mistral Large, which it claims is in the same league as competitors such as OpenAI's GPT-4, Anthropic's Claude 2 and Google's Gemini Pro and will be available on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform. Mistral has also previously said it is teaming up with other big cloud providers including Amazon and Google.

Mistral made a big splash by attracting big amounts of investor funding to give it a multibillion-dollar valuation just months after it was founded last spring. Its “open-source” approach to developing AI means it publicly releases key components of its models, in contrast to companies such as OpenAI that closely guard them.

It was started by three French former researchers from Google and Meta: CEO Arthur Mensch, Chief Scientist Guillaume Lample and Chief Technology Officer Timothee Lacroix.

When the European Union last fall was drafting the final version of its Artificial Intelligence Act, a comprehensive set of AI regulations, Mistral pushed back against efforts to impose restrictions on foundation models that power generative AI systems. Mensch took to social media to say the EU's proposals for a two-tier system would discourage innovative newcomers.

Also, read other top stories today:

AI carbon footprint time bomb! Tech giants are racing to ward off a carbon time bomb caused by the massive data centers they're building around the world. Some interesting details in this article. Check it out here.

Xiaomi 14 Ultra launched! Xiaomi 14 Ultra has a high-strength aluminum frame, Xiaomi nano-tech vegan leather, and Xiaomi Shield Glass. It is crafted from a single aluminum block. Xiaomi nano-tech vegan leather features a newly developed formula, resulting in a thinner and lighter finish. Read all about it here. 

Ukraine War as seen from space! An active open-source intelligence community has formed to keep track of troop activity, destruction and other aspects of the war. Check it all out here. 

One more thing! We are now on WhatsApp Channels! Follow us there so you never miss any updates from the world of technology. ‎To follow the HT Tech channel on WhatsApp, click here to join now!