Mistral AI CEO, PM Modi discuss partnership for sovereign AI in India

Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch met PM Modi to discuss a strategic partnership for India's "sovereign AI capabilities." Their talks focused on making AI socially accessible and beneficial to the general population, with Mensch praising Modi's vision.

Arthur Mensch, Co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI, said that his discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi revolved around artificial intelligence and the ways to make it socially accessible, highlighting the potential for a strategic partnership with India to advance "sovereign AI capabilities." Speaking with ANI, the CEO described it as a "great pleasure" to meet with PM Modi and noted that the discussion focused on the critical importance of digital autonomy. He affirmed that the duo also held key discussions on ensuring that AI technology is accessible and beneficial to a broader population. He expressed interest in partnering with India to provide "general training" to people to promote efficient integration of AI for startups and businesses.

Sovereign AI and Digital Autonomy

"It was a great pleasure for me to be received by His Excellency. We discussed artificial intelligence. We're a company building sovereign AI capabilities across the world. The discussion revolved around how to build a full-stack solution that is resilient and that is escaping foreign control, which is something that we can help with," he said. "It also revolved a lot around how to make AI available to everyone, both to the citizens, to the civil servants, and how to make sure that the people of India actually train on that technology, become better at building it through startups, that we would love to be partnering with, and also through the general training of the population so that they make a better use of that technology to learn faster and to build business faster and to generally be more efficient in their life," he added.

PM Modi's Leadership and Vision Praised

Shedding light on his first bilateral meeting with PM Modi, Mensch commended his "understanding and leadership" on AI. He said that the PM's vision for AI was synonymous with that of Mistal AI's. "It's the first time that we actually have a bilateral meeting, although we've met multiple times at the AI Impact Summit and also at the G7 yesterday. I was impressed by the understanding of the Prime Minister and his leadership on artificial intelligence. I was also impressed by the fact that there's actually very strong alignment with what he says and what we've been saying for the last three years," he said.

The Imperative of National Control Over AI

The CEO underscored the importance of "sovereignty" in AI across the world, stressing Mistral AI's growing role in providing these solutions. "The meeting was about artificial intelligence. Mistral is an artificial intelligence company from France, and we've been exporting sovereign solutions across the world. We have discussed various things. The first is how important it was for every country, for the European Union, for India, to actually own and control the stack of artificial intelligence. So, from the energy supply all the way to the creation of what we call tokens and the creation and distribution of this technology to the people. So that has been a critical part of our discussion. And we've sensed a strong alignment on making sure that every country actually benefits from the growth that AI is going to bring to everyone. AI is too important to technology not to be controlled by sovereign states and not to be controlled by sovereign companies," he added.

MEA Highlights Collaboration Interest

Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) hailed the meeting between Mensch and PM Modi, and said that the Mistral AI CEO expressed interest in "collaborating with India." "PM @narendramodi met Mr Arthur Mensch, Co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI. PM highlighted the opportunities in India's growing AI ecosystem. Mr @arthurmensch expressed Mistral AI's strong interest in collaborating with India and partnering with Indian companies to drive innovation and expand AI capabilities," he said.

The high-level meeting took place during the Prime Minister's visit to the French capital. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)