Paris AI start-up Mistral AI has raised $415 million from well-known investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed. Mistral AI, which builds technology for chatbots and search engines, values the company at about $2 billion. The start-up is pushing the adoption of AI and converting into open-source technology, providing others with the opportunity to build chatbots. The company aims to challenge U.S. tech giants, as Europe sees AI as an area of potential growth. Other start-ups, like Perplexity, that believe in an open-source approach, have also received significant investments. One of the Mistral founders has worked with Meta, and the company’s technology has been shared publicly. Mistral’s open-source approach is seen as the safest path forward, as it allows for more widespread review of the technology.
