“If these artificial intelligence systems are actually procured from foreign companies, then … our militaries can be turned off. Do we want our military forces to be turned off because we have general political misalignment sometimes?” Mensch asked.
His remarks come ahead of the European Commission’s presentation of a major technological sovereignty package, tentatively scheduled for the end of May. The proposals aim to reduce Europe’s reliance on foreign providers in critical areas, including cloud services and semiconductors. Part of the package also aims to boost data centers in Europe.
Mistral on Tuesday presented a list of policy proposals that should shape the Commission’s thinking, including a call to prioritize “European-controlled AI infrastructure.”
The bloc should use government procurement to ensure that infrastructure remains European, especially for “critical workloads” such as public services and research, the company said. “Most of Europe’s AI workloads run on infrastructure controlled by foreign providers,” leaving the bloc “vulnerable to geopolitical risks, supply chain disruptions and the loss of economic value,” Mistral’s pitch said.
Amid a debate about whether AI companies should set safeguards for the use of their systems in weaponry, Mensch argued it’s not up to them to set guidelines but to their customers.
Last month the American government had a fallout with U.S. AI leader Anthropic over red lines the company had set for use in military applications.
In an interview, Audrey Herblin-Stoop, Mistral’s senior vice president for global affairs, said it’s too early to address whether European governments will pressure AI companies to lower their safeguards in defense applications, as the Trump administration did with Anthropic.
“Let’s prioritize at the moment the ability for us to continue to develop a very strong ecosystem and have our own AI,” Herblin-Stoop said.