Microsoft Partners with Startup Mistral AI to Advance Next-Gen LLMs

Microsoft has entered into a multi-year partnership with French AI startup Mistral AI to develop and deploy next-generation large language models (LLMs). The collaboration marks a milestone on the road to bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and tangible, real-world AI applications, the companies said in a news announcement.

"[Mistral's] commitment to fostering the open-source community and achieving exceptional performance aligns harmoniously with Microsoft’s commitment to develop trustworthy, scalable, and responsible AI solutions," said Eric Boyd, VP in Microsoft's Azure AI Platform group, in a blog post.

The partnership gives Mistral AI access to the Azure AI infrastructure to accelerate the development and deployment of the company's next generation LLMs. The alliance represents an opportunity for Mistral AI to unlock new commercial opportunities, expand to global markets, and foster ongoing research collaboration, said Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral AI.

"We are thrilled to embark on this partnership with Microsoft," Mensch said in a statement. "With Azure’s cutting-edge AI infrastructure, we are reaching a new milestone in our expansion propelling our innovative research and practical applications to new customers everywhere. Together, we are committed to driving impactful progress in the AI industry and delivering unparalleled value to our customers and partners globally."

The collaboration is structured around three key areas: leveraging Microsoft’s supercomputing infrastructure to enhance AI model training and performance; scaling Mistral AI's premium models to market through Azure AI services; and jointly pursuing AI research and development, including the creation of purpose-specific models for select customers, such as those in the European public sector.

Mistral Large, the company's flagship commercial model, will be available first on Azure AI and the Mistral AI platform. Mistral Large is a general-purpose language model designed to deliver on any text-based use case via state-of-the-art reasoning and knowledge capabilities. The model is proficient in code and mathematics, able to process dozens of documents in a single call, and handles English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian, the company said.

This isn't the first time Microsoft has collaborated with the French LLM company. The integration of Mistral 7B into the Azure AI model catalog was announced during the 2023 Microsoft Ignite conference. It was then accessible through Azure AI Studio and Azure Machine Learning.

"This latest addition of Mistral AI’s premium models into Models as a Service (MaaS) within Azure AI Studio and Azure Machine Learning provides Microsoft customers with a diverse selection of the best state-of-the-art and open-source models for crafting and deploying custom AI applications," Mensch said, "paving the way for novel AI-driven innovations."

"This partnership with Mistral AI is founded on a shared commitment to build trustworthy and safe AI systems and products," Mensch added. "It further reinforces Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to enhance our AI offerings and deliver unparalleled value to our customers." 

About the Author

John K. Waters is the editor in chief of a number of Converge360.com sites, with a focus on high-end development, AI and future tech. He's been writing about cutting-edge technologies and culture of Silicon Valley for more than two decades, and he's written more than a dozen books. He also co-scripted the documentary film Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which aired on PBS.  He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • a stylized magnifying glass and a neural network pattern with interconnected nodes, symbolizing search and AI processes

    OpenAI Unveils SearchGPT AI-Powered Search Engine

    OpenAI has introduced SearchGPT, a new AI-powered search engine designed to access information from across the internet in real time. The much-anticipated prototype will provide more organized and meaningful search results by summarizing and contextualizing information rather than returning lists of links.

  • scientists working in a lab

    Learning Engineering: New Profession or Transformational Process?

    Learning engineering combines theories from the learning sciences with problem-solving approaches from engineering, to create a process that can transform research results into learning action. Here, Ellen Wagner guides an exploration of this transformational process.

  • stylized illustration of a college administrator lying awake in a cozy bed, looking thoughtful

    When Thinking About Data, What Keeps You Up at Night?

    The proliferation of technology in education means we have more data about how, what and if students are learning than ever before. The question is, how do we ensure that data gets into the hands of the people who can use it to improve teaching and learning, without invading a student or educator's privacy?

  • new unified Microsoft Teams app

    New Unified Teams App Consolidates Work, Personal, and Education Accounts

    Microsoft has announced that the unified Teams app is now available for Windows 11, Windows 10 and macOS users.