French AI startup Mistral is pursuing defence contracts with governments across Europe, pitching its technology’s potential military applications, sources say.
Mistral has faced mounting scrutiny in recent weeks, after Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released a high-performing chatbot it said was built at a fraction of the costs incurred by industry leaders in the US and Europe.
At the time, some investors said DeepSeek’s arrival might force Mistral to pivot away from building large language models (LLMs) and focus instead on practical applications.
Now, having already secured links with its native French defence ministry, Mistral is said to be courting officials close to both the British and German militaries, two sources familiar with the matter tell Sifted.
“Mistral has been working on defence stuff for a while but DeepSeek made it way more urgent for them to pivot, or at least show off publicly what they’d been doing behind closed doors,” one source close to the company tells Sifted.
“DeepSeek reminded everyone what China was capable of. At the same time Trump has been saying Europe needs to spend more on defence,” they added.
“Mistral could use both these things to its advantage.”
Arms race
As the AI Action Summit in Paris was getting underway on Monday, Mistral announced it had signed a partnership with German defence startup Helsing.
CEO Arthur Mensch said its AI models would be “instrumental in developing a new generation of defence systems, ensuring Europe’s strategic advantage in the global landscape”.
The tie-up follows two similar deals Mistral signed in recent months: one with London-based startup Faculty AI, a London-based tech startup which helps other organisations deploy the technology; another with AMIAD, the French government agency dedicated to enhancing the country’s defence capabilities with AI.
There’s a big push to show that Europe isn’t going to settle for second place compared to the US.
Faculty came to prominence in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was drafted in by then-prime minister Boris Johnson to help track hospital admissions and resources. The company has retained close links to the British government even after the recent election, which saw the Labour Party returned to power.
A source familiar with the companies’ agreement say Faculty and Mistral agreed the deal on the basis the two companies would introduce more prospective business partners in their respective home countries.
“Labour has talked a big game about using AI to revolutionise government services and boost productivity,” one source tells Sifted. “And if the UK wants better relations with Europe, it makes sense to bring their best LLM company into the fold.”
On the defensive
AMIAD, which was launched in May 2024, oversees an annual budget of around €300m.
Last week, Politico reported the agency has already signed a deal with Mistral. The agency can use its AI and, in exchange, the startup has been given access to officials in the defence ministry.
In an interview with the site, AMIAD boss Bertrand Rondepierre described the agreement as a “win-win situation”. He said: “I need access to world-class models. The whole logic of partnership isn’t just to give them money, it’s about building things together.”
A source close to Mistral says its new partnership with Helsing is in part an attempt to forge closer ties to the German government.
“They have different areas of expertise, but they can help each other,” the person says. “There’s a big push to show that Europe isn’t going to settle for second place compared to the US, and partnerships like this are gonna give them a fighting chance.”
Sifted approached Faculty, Helsing and Mistral for comment.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/mistral-helsing-defence-ai-action-summit-paris/
