Hours after Microsoft announced it is investing in the French tech AI company another AI company Mistral AI, the European Commission said that it will analyse the deal, as part of its ongoing scrutiny of big tech’s AI partnerships.
“What is emerging shows even more that it was good not to water down our ambition on the safety of GPAI (general purpose AI) models with systemic risks, following legitimate but strong lobbying from companies like Mistral,” said Brando Benefei, a member of the European Parliament who oversaw the drafting of the bloc’s landmark AI Act, as per a report by news agency Reuters.
“This story that is emerging will need to be further investigated,” Benefei said. In fact, the commission has previously said that Microsoft’s backing of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI may be subject to merger rules in the European Union.
The report also said that throughout the negotiations over the EU’s wide-ranging AI Act, “Mistral lobbied for looser rules for some models, with advocates warning that strict rules risked undermining European companies’ ability to compete with big tech.”
Microsoft-Mistral deal details
Microsoft announced it would soon make Mistral’s AI models available through its Azure cloud computing platform. The company said it had also invested in Mistral, but held no equity.
“We’ve made a 15 million euro investment in Mistral AI which would convert into equity in the company’s next funding round,” a Microsoft spokesperson told the news agency.

As per Microsoft, this investment will enable the company to accelerate the development and deployment of their next generation large language models (LLMs). It highlighted that the deal will represent “an opportunity for Mistral AI to unlock new commercial opportunities, expand to global markets, and foster ongoing research collaboration,” noted the company.
Notably, Microsoft Azure also hosts open-source and commercial models, including the ones offered by OpenAI, in which the company is said to have invested upwards of $10 billion.