Days after (AI), the CEO of French AI company Mistral rejected the pontiff’s criticism, claiming that Europe needed its own set of tools to safeguard itself against rivals using AI in warfare.
Mistral co-founder Arthur Mensch said that Europe was not in a position to ignore the use of AI by adversaries. “We’re all for peace, but if you look at our rivals and adversaries in the world, they’re using artificial intelligence… As long as we have adversaries that are threatening, and they are threatening, we do need to have our own capabilities,” he told reporters, as per Reuters.
Mensch’s comments come at a time when nations like the US, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, China, etc., are increasingly exploring the use of AI in warfare and active combat. Most of these nations are reportedly using AI for autonomous targeting, intelligence analysis, and drone swarm integration, among other military use cases.
On Sunday, May 24, the Pope issued his first encyclical since his election where he urged the regulation of AI. The Pope had said that lethal decisions should never be delegated to AI and that no algorithm can make war morally acceptable. According to the pontiff, the development and use of AI in warfare should be subject to the most rigorous ethical constraints to ensure respect for human dignity and the sanctity of life. He also said that it is the responsibility of the creators and those in power.
Meanwhile, Mistral, on Thursday, May 28, said that it will be setting up a data centre in Les Ulis, France, with 10 megawatts of computing power and will likely open in late 2026. The move is reportedly part of the company’s €4 billion investment strategy.
The new facility will add to Mistral’s line of existing facilities in Sweden and France, and together it will help the company reach its proposed 200 megawatts of computing power by the end of 2027 and 1 gigawatt by 2030. The French company said that the capacity will not only serve its own needs but will also be rented to other AI labs.
Europe is rapidly expanding its data centre infrastructure to compete with the US and China. Even though AI companies are bullish about the expansion of AI infrastructure, their efforts are also being met with stiff resistance from locals staying in the vicinity of these data centres. After the announcement of its new data centres, Mistral too faced intense reactions, particularly from the youth in France, underscoring the rising concerns over AI’s impact on society.
Reacting to the backlash, Mensch said that there is some anguish to be expected around AI. “It’s not the first time that people are a bit anguished at something coming up. But we’ll be fine. We’ll find a way to use it efficiently,” he said.
