Yesterday, an announcement echoed through the AI world as Mistral AI, unveiled their latest innovation to stand toe-to-toe with OpenAI’s GPT-4: Mistral Large. It’s shaping up to be a formidable contender in the realm of large language models.
But that’s not all – they’ve also inked a distribution deal with Microsoft, promising to shake things up even further.
- Big Moves in AI: Mistral AI introduced Mistral Large, a cutting-edge large language model designed to challenge industry giants like GPT-4 and Claude 2. Unlike its predecessors, this isn’t an open-source venture – access is exclusively via Mistral’s API platform.
- Microsoft’s Stake: Microsoft announced a hefty €15M investment ($16.3M, to be exact), earmarked for equity in Mistral AI’s upcoming funding round. This move doesn’t alter Mistral’s current $2B valuation but indicates potential for less than 1% equity for Microsoft, depending on the next round’s outcome.
- Azure Distribution Deal: The partnership extends to distribution, with Mistral AI models soon to be available through Microsoft Azure. This could broaden Mistral’s customer base while offering existing Azure clients a wider array of AI model choices, in addition to OpenAI and Meta’s Llama models.
With Microsoft’s dual investments in OpenAI and now Mistral AI, regulatory bodies in the EU and UK are paying close attention. The European Commission, in particular, has voiced intent to scrutinize this deal amidst broader concerns over tech giants’ sway in the generative AI space.
