Mistral AI: Arthur Mensch Opposes the Pope on AI

Arthur Mensch and the Papal Challenge on AI

Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral AI, recently responded to statements made by Pope Leo XIV, who, in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, called for the "disarmament" of artificial intelligence. This document, consisting of over one hundred pages and 250 paragraphs, emphasizes the protection of human dignity in the age of AI. Mensch, speaking at a conference in Paris, highlighted that Europe cannot afford to remain on the sidelines while its American and Chinese rivals invest heavily in both military and civilian AI. According to him, Europe has a two-year window to establish its AI infrastructure, or it will lose control over this crucial technology.

Pope Leo XIV, who signed his encyclical on May 15, the 135th anniversary of Leo XIII's Rerum novarum, advocates for AI to be removed from military competition and domination logics. He places his text within the tradition of his predecessor, whose 1891 encyclical addressed the working conditions during the industrial revolution. However, Arthur Mensch views this approach as a barrier to European competitiveness. "We are all for peace, but if we look at our rivals and adversaries in the world, they are using AI. As long as they threaten us, we need our own capabilities," he stated.

Strategic Initiatives by Mistral AI

At the first public summit of Mistral AI, the AI Now Summit in Paris, Arthur Mensch announced several major initiatives. A five-year agreement was signed with Airbus, covering commercial aviation, helicopters, and defense. On the same day, a contract was concluded with BMW to develop AI models for crash simulations and vehicle development. These partnerships illustrate Mistral AI's determination to establish itself in the European market.

Mistral AI has also raised €750 million to build a 44-megawatt computing center in Bruyères-le-Châtel, Essonne, equipped with 13,800 NVIDIA Grace-Blackwell chips. This infrastructure aims to enhance the computing capacity necessary to support the start-up's ambitions.

Furthermore, Mistral AI has acquired Emmi AI, an Austrian start-up founded in 2024 and specializing in Physics AI. This technology allows for real-time simulation of complex physical phenomena, such as fluid flows or heat transfers, which typically require several hours of computation. Emmi AI had raised €15 million in the largest seed round ever conducted by an Austrian start-up. Mensch emphasized that the most significant use cases for AI lie in R&D and the creation of physical objects.

European Dependence on Cloud

On May 12, before the inquiry commission of the National Assembly on digital dependencies, Arthur Mensch warned that Europe has two years to build its AI infrastructure. After this deadline, no link in the chain would be under European control. Currently, AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud capture about 70% of the European cloud market.

The European Commission plans to unveil its "Tech Sovereignty Package" on May 27, 2026, a set of legislations including the Cloud and AI Development Act and a revision of the Chips Act. Unlike Gaia-X launched in 2019, these texts will come into effect directly in all member states. The French government has already taken steps by banning Microsoft Teams and Zoom from its administrations in favor of the French platform Visio.

Guillaume Lample, co-founder and scientific director of Mistral AI, emphasized the importance for Europe to access general artificial intelligence or superintelligence, warning of disastrous consequences if it were deprived of it. In Magnifica Humanitas, Leo XIV also acknowledges the impact of AI on power relations between states but advocates for a disengagement approach from technological competition. Moreover, Mistral AI is already equipping lithographic machines at ASML with vision models capable of detecting engraving defects in eight minutes.