- BNP Paribas has announced an expanded partnership with Mistral AI, integrating the startup’s LLMs across various business areas.
- This partnership highlights BNP Paribas’s commitment to advanced AI technology and positions Mistral AI as a strong European competitor in the AI market.
OUR TAKE
BNP Paribas’s audacious partnership with Mistral AI signals a bold move that could redefine European banking. By integrating Mistral’s cutting-edge large language models, BNP Paribas is not just keeping pace with technological advancements. This collaboration may challenge the hegemony of US tech giants and underscore Europe’s capacity to innovate.
–Ashley Wang, BTW reporter
What happened
BNP Paribas has announced a comprehensive partnership with Mistral AI, a leading European AI startup, to integrate its Large Language Models across various business areas, including customer support, sales, and IT. This partnership extends a relationship that began in September 2023 and signifies a significant step in BNP Paribas’s AI strategy.
Mistral AI, founded in 2023 by ex-Google DeepMind and Meta AI scientists, has quickly positioned itself as a key player in the AI landscape, raising over €1 billion ($108 billion) in three funding rounds. The Paris-based startup offers both open-source and proprietary AI models, challenging market leaders like OpenAI. This deal underscores the growing trend of companies seeking robust AI solutions to enhance their operations and competitiveness.
Olivier Osty, head of BNP Paribas Global Markets, highlighted the transformative potential of generative AI for the bank’s operations. “Generative AI has significant potential to enhance our client offering across sales, trading, research, and more, and I am excited to continue our work with Mistral AI towards that goal,” Osty said.
Also read: What LLM does Perplexity AI use?
Also read: How to create a large language model (LLM)?
Why it’s important
The partnership can be dated back to September 2023 when the bank’s Global Markets division began experimenting with Mistral AI’s models. The formalised one marks a significant expansion from their initial collaboration. Furthermore, since February 2024, BNP Paribas has been piloting Mistral AI’s models across several divisions, following successful early results in the Global Markets division.
This strategic move aims to leverage Mistral AI’s LLMs to develop various use cases within the bank’s operations. Mistral AI’s technology is particularly suited to highly regulated institutions, offering controlled deployment on-premises and scalability with energy-efficient models. The partnership not only signifies BNP Paribas’s commitment to integrating advanced AI technologies but also positions Mistral AI as a formidable European alternative in the competitive AI market.
