Microsoft

France had no prior knowledge of Microsoft’s Mistral AI deal, official says

Advertisement Business France had no prior knowledge of Microsoft’s Mistral AI deal, official says FILE PHOTO: A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, February 9, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo New: You can now listen to articles. Sorry, the audio is unavailable right now. Please try again later. This

Advertisement

Business

France had no prior knowledge of Microsoft’s Mistral AI deal, official says

France had no prior knowledge of Microsoft's Mistral AI deal, official says

FILE PHOTO: A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, February 9, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo


New: You can now listen to articles.



Sorry, the audio is unavailable right now.


Please try again later.

This audio is AI-generated.

28 Feb 2024 08:33PM
(Updated: 28 Feb 2024 10:17PM)



Bookmark



Bookmark



Share

LONDON :France had no prior knowledge of Microsoft’s partnership with tech startup Mistral AI, a finance ministry official told Reuters, denying suggestions that French lobbying for looser European AI rules had been on behalf of the U.S. tech giant.

Earlier this week, Microsoft said it had made a 15-million euro ($16 million) investment in Mistral, and would soon make the Paris-based company’s AI models available via its Azure cloud computing platform.

Following the announcement, a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters it had invested in Mistral without taking a stake. Later, Microsoft clarified that its investment would convert into equity in Mistral’s next funding round, a common practice among big tech companies investing in AI startups.

Mistral and the French government had previously lobbied for looser regulations under the European Union’s wide-ranging AI Act, ostensibly to avoid over-regulating smaller startups.

Some EU lawmakers on Tuesday questioned whether Mistral had lobbied on Microsoft’s behalf, and the extent of the French government’s knowledge of the partnership.

“That story seems to have been a front for an American-influenced big tech lobby,” Kim van Sparrentak, an EU lawmaker who worked closely on the AI Act, told Reuters. “The Act almost collapsed under the guise of no rules for ‘European champions’, and now look. European regulators have been played.”

But the French government denied any prior knowledge of the agreement.

“Yesterday, we learned of the technological partnership between Mistral and Microsoft. It’s great news that a young French company has joined Microsoft’s previously exclusive partnership with OpenAI on its Azure platform,” a French finance ministry official told Reuters.

“France, like all other member states, took part in the writing the AI Act. At the time, we were not aware of this partnership project, but it has no specific consequences.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch said the company remained committed to its mission as an independent European company.

“We have a reselling agreement with Microsoft, that we’re very excited about,” he wrote on social media platform X. “Alongside similar partnerships, it will accelerate our growth.”

Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Source: Reuters

Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement

Read More

Be the first to write a comment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Microsoft

Arkane Founder: ‘I Think Game Pass is Unsustainable’

The founder and former president of Arkane Studios Raphaël Colantonio, who left in 2019, took to social media weighing on the huge Microsoft and Xbox layoffs. “Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass),” said Colantonio (spotted by VideoGamesChronicle). He added…

The founder and former president of Arkane Studios Raphaël Colantonio, who left in 2019, took to social media weighing on the huge Microsoft and Xbox layoffs.
“Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass),” said Colantonio (spotted by VideoGamesChronicle).
He added…
Read More

Continue Reading
Microsoft

In the Wake of Xbox Layoffs, Founder of Dishonored and Prey Dev Arkane Slams Game Pass: ‘Why Is No-One Talking About the Elephant in the Room?’

Hot on the heels of the layoffs that have swept through Xbox, the founder of Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios has hit out at Game Pass, whose subscription model he called “unsustainable.” Raphael Colantonio, who founded the Dishonored and Prey developer and served as its president before leaving in 2017 to start Weird West maker WolfEye Studios

Hot on the heels of the layoffs that have swept through Xbox, the founder of Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios has hit out at Game Pass, whose subscription model he called “unsustainable.”

Raphael Colantonio, who founded the Dishonored and Prey developer and served as its president before leaving in 2017 to start Weird West maker WolfEye Studios, took to social media to ask: “Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass).”

When asked to expand on his thoughts on Game Pass, which Weird West launched straight into as a day one title in March 2022, Colantonio said: “I think Gamepass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by MS’s ‘infinite money,’ but at some point reality has to hit. I don’t think GP can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up.”

Colantonio’s comment sparked a vociferous debate about the pros and cons of Game Pass in industry terms as well as for the customer. Microsoft’s subscription service has been called many things over the years: the death of the video game industry; the savior of smaller developers who benefit greatly from payments made by Microsoft to secure their games; and everything in between. During the great Xbox FTC trial to decide the fate of Microsoft’s $69 billion aquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan claimed that he had talked to “all the publishers” and that, unanimously, they all hated Game Pass “because it is value destructive.” He also said Microsoft “appears to be losing a lot of money on it.”

Back in 2021, Xbox boss Phil Spencer countered Game Pass doomsayers, saying: “I know there’s a lot of people that like to write [that] we’re burning cash right now for some future pot of gold at the end. No. Game Pass is very, very sustainable right now as it sits. And it continues to grow.”

That was four years ago. What about now, in the wake of cuts that have seen Rare’s Everwild, the Perfect Dark reboot, and an unannounced MMO in the works at developer behind The Elder Scrolls Online all canceled?

Colantonio’s comments were backed by a number of industry peers, including the former VP of biz dev at Epic Games. Michael Douse, publishing director at Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian, said that the biggest concern right now revolves around what happens when all that money runs out. This, Douse added, is “one of the main economic reasons people I know haven’t shifted to its business model. The infinite money thing never made any sense.”

(It’s worth noting that Baldur’s Gate 3 has so far not launched in Game Pass or PlayStation Plus.)

Colantonio then ridiculed Microsoft’s insistence that launching games into Game Pass did not impact sales, only to later admit the contrary.

Douse responded to to say he prefers the Sony way of doing things. Sony’s PlayStation Plus policy is to keep first-party games off the subscription service at launch, only adding them some time later. That’s why you won’t see this year’s Sony’s Ghost of Yotei launch straight into PS Plus, but you will see Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as a day one Game Pass launch.

“The economics never made sense, but at the same

Read More

Continue Reading
Microsoft

Microsoft denies shutting down operations in China

Microsoft China denied it would cease operations in the country, after a screenshot of an internal email from Wicresoft, a Microsoft outsourcing partner, fueled speculation about a potential exit. On Monday, several employees of Wicresoft shared screenshots of layoff emails on social media. The email cites geopolitical tensions and shifts in the global business landscape

Microsoft China denied it would cease operations in the country, after a screenshot of an internal email from Wicresoft, a Microsoft outsourcing partner, fueled speculation about a potential exit. On Monday, several employees of Wicresoft shared screenshots of layoff emails on social media. The email cites geopolitical tensions and shifts in the global business landscape [……
Read More

Continue Reading
Microsoft

Fake Microsoft Office add-in tools push malware via SourceForge

Threat actors are abusing SourceForge to distribute fake Microsoft add-ins that install malware on victims’ computers to both mine and steal cryptocurrency. …

Threat actors are abusing SourceForge to distribute fake Microsoft add-ins that install malware on victims’ computers to both mine and steal cryptocurrency. …
Read More

Continue Reading