European lawmakers are “furious” over Microsoft’s new “strategic partnership” with French artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI, citing changes to the EU AI Act that were made in response to Mistral and other firms’ requests. In a significant turnabout for the start-up, the French AI champion announced its new large language model (LLM) on Monday and made it available to Azure cloud users of Microsoft. Kai Zenner, head of office and digital policy adviser for Axel Voss, an MEP from the European People’s Party (EPP), said, “On a technical and a political level in the [European] Parliament, we are extremely furious because the French government for months was making this argument of European leadership, meaning that those companies should be able to scale up without help from Chinese or US companies.”
Concerns raised by green MEPs
“They consistently accused the Parliament of creating an impractical barrier that prevents those national champions, or unicorns, from trying to compete with their international rivals,” he said in an interview with Euronews Next. The technical elements of the EU’s AI Act were recently agreed with by member states, but only after extensive talks in which France, in particular, pressed for concessions for open source businesses like Mistral. Zenner added that Mistral AI was arguing that they would be compelled to work with organizations such as Microsoft if their desires were not met. He says that because of the compromises, the laws would be “attacked in front of courts” and that the final version of the EU AI Act was hurried.
The Mistral AI-Microsoft partnership
The European Union’s competition watchdog, which also started looking into Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar transaction with OpenAI last month, is also planning to investigate the alliance. Given that it’s unknown if Mistral AI had discussions with Microsoft during the drafting of the EU AI Act, they may also come under investigation.
“Of course, some things could be further evaluated if this is the case and then certain lobbying happened or certain things were said by the French government,” Zenner added. Microsoft and the French startup in collaboration Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are raising worries about Big Tech gaining control and uncertainty about who was aware of what during the negotiation of the EU AI Act, which is causing a political backlash in the EU due to Mistral AI. The European Commission declared that it will investigate the €15 million investment in Mistral AI and Microsoft’s “small” ownership of the company as part of a “strategic partnership” that was disclosed the day before.
Transparency and accountability
A Dutch MEP from the Greens who worked closely on the AI Act, Kim van Sparrentak, told Euronews Next that “Microsoft has been lobbying intensely since the start of negotiations.” “Mistral genuinely lobbied the European Council,” she clarified, noting that she is not opposing the partnership’s commercial choice.
In November of last year, the EU AI Act negotiations got underway, and lobbying was underway. Along with a few other EU countries, France pushed to weaken the regulations protecting open source businesses like Mistral, claiming that European businesses would instead look to the US and China for funding. The head of the AI4People Institute, which was established in 2018 to influence the conversation on AI ethics in the EU, Michelangelo Baracchi Bonvicini, stated, “No one can say if Mistral was in talks with Microsoft back in November.” However, we can be certain that a cooperation with a major IT business of that caliber is unlikely to materialize in a month or less. With two weeks’ notice, it is not even feasible to talk with Microsoft’s chief technical officer,” he informed
Sustainability and green tech
Although Arthur Mensch, the business’s co-founder and CEO, stated on social media that there were “creative interpretations” of the purchase and that Mistral is “an independent European company with global ambitions,” Mistral has declined Euronews Next’s requests for an interview. MEPs should also inquire as to whether the French government was aware of the agreement before the Act’s discussions. Given that Cedric O, the former digital secretary of state of France, is a board member of Mistral and has extensive ties to the French government, Van Sparrentak said there are “many levels” to the tale.
