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Microsoft is on a tear lately. In addition to its investment in OpenAI and its recent “acquisition” of Inflection AI, Microsoft also invested in French startup Mistral.

We're announcing a multi-year partnership with @MistralAI, as we build on our commitment to offer customers the best choice of open and foundation models on Azure. https://t.co/k1L7lfFeES

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) February 26, 2024

Microsoft’s Sata Nadella positioned the investment as a commitment to offering enterprise customers the best choice of open and foundation models on Azure.

“We’re paving the way for efficient and cost-effective AI models that accelerate growth and deliver real-world solutions,” Microsoft Azure posted on X.

Mistral AI is a French AI startup that develops advanced large language models (LLMs) and AI technologies.

The key things Mistral AI does are:

Develops open-source and efficient AI models: Mistral AI has released several powerful AI models. These models are designed to be fast, helpful, and trustworthy, with capabilities in areas like language understanding, code generation, and multi-lingual support.

Provides AI services and APIs: Mistral AI offers its AI models through various cloud platforms and APIs, allowing developers and businesses to integrate the technology into their own applications and workflows. This includes services like Mistral Large, Mistral Small, and Mistral Embedded.

Partners with major tech companies: Mistral AI has secured partnerships with companies like Microsoft, which has invested $16 million to bring Mistral Large to the Azure cloud platform.

Focuses on responsible AI development: Mistral AI aims to develop AI models that are “efficient, helpful, and trustworthy” through innovative approaches. The company emphasizes the importance of addressing potential misuse or underperformance of AI systems.

Microsoft invested in Mistral AI for several key reasons:

Diversify its AI portfolio: By investing in Mistral, Microsoft is expanding its AI offerings beyond its partnership with OpenAI. This helps Microsoft diversify its AI portfolio and reduce reliance on a single provider.

Access to Mistral’s models: The partnership will allow Microsoft to make Mistral’s premium AI models, including its ChatGPT-style assistant “Le Chat”, available to customers through Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.

Leverage Mistral’s technology: Microsoft will support Mistral with its Azure AI supercomputing infrastructure, allowing Mistral to train new AI models at scale.

Collaborate on R&D: The companies will explore collaborating on training purpose-specific AI models, including for European public sector workloads.

Expand in Europe: The investment allows Microsoft to strengthen its presence and partnerships in Europe’s growing AI industry, which could help it navigate increasing regulatory scrutiny from the EU.

AInsights

I guess you can’t lose if you bet on every single player! This came as a surprise to some experts as many expected AWS to make this move.

Here’s what this move means to you…

 Expanded AI model options: The partnership will allow Microsoft to offer Mistral’s large language models, including its ChatGPT-style assistant “Le Chat”, to its Azure cloud customers. This gives enterprises more choice beyond just Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI.

Customized AI models: Microsoft and Mistral will collaborate on developing “purpose-specific models for select customers, including European public sector workloads.” This allows enterprises to access AI models tailored to their specific needs.

Improved regulatory positioning: With Mistral being a European AI company, the partnership may help Microsoft navigate increasing regulatory scrutiny from the EU over its AI offerings and partnerships.

Reduced reliance on OpenAI: By diversifying its AI portfolio beyond just OpenAI, Microsoft will be less dependent on the continued success and dominance of OpenAI in the large language model (LLM) market.

Access to Mistral’s technology: Enterprises can leverage Mistral’s AI models and technology through the Azure platform, benefiting from the startup’s research and development capabilities.

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