Europe’s AI stars step out of US shadow

Europe’s synthetic intelligence firms are dwarfed in wealth and cachet by US giants like OpenAI and Anthropic and their charismatic leaders.

However the VivaTech startup convention in Paris this week is permitting the founders of the continent’s three most outstanding companies to show a little bit of the showmanship their US counterparts are well-known for.

—Arthur Mensch, Mistral AI

Frenchmen Arthur Mensch, who shaped Mistral AI barely a yr in the past, was first to the stage at VivaTech, his look packing out the principle area.

With an intense expression and tousled hair, he joined a panel discussion about AI, belief and the media.

He warned in opposition to US companies dominating the AI area, notably with instruments for journalists, which he mentioned may result in a situation the place “US companies are setting the editorial tone of the entire world and are basically dictating how we should think about things”.

“And that’s really something that, by making our own technology from Europe and addressing the entire global market, we want to prevent,” he mentioned.

Mensch as soon as labored at Google’s DeepMind and shaped Mistral with two of his countrymen, who have been additionally veterans of huge US tech companies.

The three positioned their bets on open-source AI fashions, which generate textual content from plain language queries.

They’re easier and cheaper than these of their big US rivals, and Mistral raised greater than $400 million in its final funding spherical.

—Jonas Andrulis, Aleph Alpha

German Jonas Andrulis, in his early forties with an immaculately clipped goatee and shaved head, undercuts the extreme look with dry wit and blunt solutions.

Throughout a panel on AI sovereignty on Wednesday, he was requested for his opinion on the EU’s AI Act.

His rapid reply—”strong negative”—was delivered with a realizing grin.

He mentioned actually he supported the ultimate textual content of the legislation and was extra aggravated with the period of the “planning and regulatory shenanigans”.

Andrulis, who spent three years working for Apple, is extra doubtless than his European counterparts to dish out the type of hyperbole US tech founders are recognized for.

He has repeatedly talked about AI’s capability to provide people “superpowers” and mentioned lately his agency’s AI agent was primarily “conscious”.

He used his look at VivaTech to argue that Europe “should have a strong, powerful vision” for the longer term that encourages entrepreneurs.

His agency, based in 2019 and based mostly within the picturesque southwest German metropolis of Heidelberg, creates massive language fashions for companies and authorities.

In one of many largest single funding rounds ever by a European tech agency, Aleph Alpha raised greater than $500 million late final yr.

Andrulis talks of making “sovereign” AI, however his definition is just not linked to geographical location.

As a substitute, sovereignty for Andrulis seems to be a extra philosophical idea.

“Sovereignty means the ability to take responsibility for the future,” he instructed Wednesday’s panel.

—Thomas Wolf, Hugging Face

Frenchman Thomas Wolf, who will take to the stage on Friday, instructed AFP in an interview final week it was a “call from the heart” that led him to take up AI.

The 39-year-old had spent years researching quantum physics however give up in 2016 to kind Hugging Face, a collaborative platform for AI fashions, with two different Frenchmen.

“Physics was frustrating because it took three years to do an experiment, whereas with AI in a few weeks you can do incredible things,” he mentioned.

Wolf, like his countrymen at Mistral, is a champion of open-source AI fashions.

Hugging Face declare they’ve multiple million applications utilized by 11 million clients worldwide.

After elevating $235 million in funding final August, the Franco-American startup is valued at practically $4.5 billion.

And like his fellow Europeans, Wolf, who arrange his firm in New York, believes the continent has a shiny future.

“We are an American company because it used to be very difficult to raise large sums of money in Paris,” he mentioned.

“Today, it’s really changed, you can raise $200 million in Paris.”

© 2024 AFP