Latest news with #Mistral
Mint
2 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Nvidia's ‘Sovereign' AI Could Win a Prize for Irony
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Nvidia Corp. billionaire boss Jensen Huang, clad in his signature leather jacket, has been crisscrossing European capitals and sharing the stage with the likes of Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron as he pitches 'sovereign' artificial intelligence, a vision of new data centers offering essential compute power within national borders rather than via dominant tech firms from abroad. But if there were prizes for irony, it's a concept that might win a few. Huang's pitch has understandably struck a chord with leaders desperate for new sources of productivity gains and for ways to avoid falling terminally behind in a tech race dominated by the US and China. Recent announcements include a partnership with French AI startup Mistral to build a cloud platform powered by 18,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips and a Germany-based industrial cloud for European manufacturing built with 10,000 Blackwell chips. It's not just Europe — Nvidia has cut big sovereign AI deals in the Middle East — but the Old Continent is where Huang sees computing capacity increase by a factor of 10 over the next two years. 'It's coming,' he said. This doesn't much look like sovereignty, though. From Nvidia's point of view, the company is certainly positioning itself as a geopolitical actor, engaging directly with heads of state like Macron as the ultimate tech enabler to boost AI adoption. That's good for Nvidia amid a wider Sino-American trade war that's seen it lose $15 billion in Chinese sales due to export controls and as Europeans become warier of US tech providers like Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Bloomberg Intelligence last month estimated sovereign AI investments could add $10 to $15 billion in annual revenue for Nvidia in a de-globalizing world. But from Europe's point of view, we're still a long way from the tech autonomy leaders like Macron want to offer anxious voters. The hardware and infrastructure powering these big AI projects are ultimately Nvidia's, a US company with 80% market share whose dominance will be entrenched through chips that are updated or replaced every few years. To the extent that there is a European supply chain, it exists elsewhere, in the brainy engineers and open-source models offered by the likes of Mistral. But it remains to be seen if that will be enough to secure Europe's AI future when US rivals are so dominant. Mistral's €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in capital raised so far is a fraction compared with OpenAI's; and as ambitious as its plans are, Europe today has just 4.8% of estimated global AI compute power, according to Epoch AI. We've seen this movie before. France and Germany once pinned their hopes on a sovereign cloud to protect user data from the extraterritorial reach of the US and China. Today, US tech companies still account for around 70% of cloud services in Europe. And for every attempt to reduce dependence, such as the Danish municipalities quitting Microsoft, there's an opposite move like the German military's cloud deal with Google. In search, European tools promoted as alternatives to Google have relied instead on Microsoft's Bing — so when Bing went down during last year's global outage, so did they. Is it any wonder that Microsoft is now offering 'sovereign cloud' services to Europe without a hint of irony? Misnomers and fuzzy language aside, some will argue this won't matter much if Huang's vision of AI as an essential technology like electricity or the steam engine pays off. At last week's Research and Applied AI Summit, a panel I moderated compared AI sovereignty to a national airline: The flags and operations are what count, not the origin of the aluminum tube and its engines. But there have been tangible costs to not worrying enough about dependencies — like Russian natural gas or Chinese exports — and AI might be the same, according to University of Amsterdam researcher Leevi Saari. With tech still very much driven by globalized supply chains, outsourced labor and dominant vendors, what's on offer today looks more like 'sovereignty-as-a-service' — the wrapper of autonomy at high cost. After all, maybe it's the existence of alternatives like Airbus SE that makes airlines so relaxed. If AI sovereignty is a worthy goal, Europe will need to do more than come up with new wrappings for the same chips. It has advantages: talent, skills, companies like ASML Holding NV and an automotive-industrial base ripe for innovation. But what it lacks is an ecosystem with plentiful research spending, financing and end-user demand — the kind that helped US startups raise more than double the funding of their European counterparts last year, according to AVP. That won't be changed in a day, but it should be part of any sovereign vision — as should investing in chip independence to secure 'good enough' alternatives and diversify risk, according to Nathan Benaich of Air Street Capital. The alternative, he reckons, is digital colonialism. As China heads down its post-DeepSeek path and the US hugs its hemisphere closer, expect to see Huang's leather jacket more frequently. More From Bloomberg Opinion: This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the future of money and the future of Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for Reuters and Forbes. More stories like this are available on
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Nvidia's ‘Sovereign' AI Could Win a Prize for Irony
Nvidia Corp. billionaire boss Jensen Huang, clad in his signature leather jacket, has been crisscrossing European capitals and sharing the stage with the likes of Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron as he pitches 'sovereign' artificial intelligence, a vision of new data centers offering essential compute power within national borders rather than via dominant tech firms from abroad. But if there were prizes for irony, it's a concept that might win a few. Huang's pitch has understandably struck a chord with leaders desperate for new sources of productivity gains and for ways to avoid falling terminally behind in a tech race dominated by the US and China. Recent announcements include a partnership with French AI startup Mistral to build a cloud platform powered by 18,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips and a Germany-based industrial cloud for European manufacturing built with 10,000 Blackwell chips. It's not just Europe — Nvidia has cut big sovereign AI deals in the Middle East — but the Old Continent is where Huang sees computing capacity increase by a factor of 10 over the next two years. 'It's coming,' he said.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
The $49 winter must-have item from Bunnings shoppers can't get enough of: 'Game changer'
As wet winter mornings sweep across Australia, a $49 gadget from Bunnings is going viral - and for good reason. Shoppers say the Mistral Shoe Dryer has transformed their cold-weather routine, drying soggy shoes in hours and saving families and workers from putting on damp, smelly footwear day after day. The compact unit, which uses gentle heat to dry shoes from the inside out, is designed to tackle everything from soaked school sneakers and muddy footy boots to rain-drenched work shoes and even gloves. And according to Aussie parents, it's nothing short of a seasonal saviour. 'This is a game changer! No more standing around for ages with a blow dryer on my kid's shoes,' one mum wrote. Another agreed: 'Oh my god I need one - my son plays in puddles at school and comes home with waterlogged shoes. This is awesome.' The praise hasn't just come from parents. Aussies working outdoors say it's a must-have for staying dry and comfortable between long shifts in the elements. 'For the working class men and women who work in the rain - who need to have dry shoes in the morning - this is a lifesaver,' one person said. Another added: 'It would've been nice to have that instead of walking around work with soggy boots.' Priced at $49, the Mistral Shoe Dryer is proving to be an affordable luxury for households across the country, especially those juggling active kids, outdoor jobs, or just trying to avoid musty-smelling shoes during winter. The unit is suitable for boots, sneakers, sandals, and gloves, and works by gently warming items from the inside out - helping to reduce moisture, eliminate odour, and prolong the life of your footwear. 'Perfect for people with kids who play sports or partners who work outside in the rain,' a shopper explained. Others noted its unexpected bonus: 'Great for footy boots or people who have shoes that smell.' While some high-end dryers can retail for well over $100, Bunnings' budget-friendly version has struck a chord with value-conscious Aussies. One shopper even described it as the product they 'didn't know they needed until now'. With rave reviews already stacking up online - and many warning they're quickly selling out in stores - it seems the humble shoe dryer has become this winter's surprise cult buy.
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Poll finds public turning to AI bots for news updates
The biggest-name chatbot – OpenAI's ChatGPT – is the most widely used, followed by Google's Gemini and Meta's Llama. — Reuters PARIS: People are increasingly turning to generative artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT to follow day-to-day news, a respected media report published Tuesday found. The yearly survey from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found "for the first time" that significant numbers of people were using chatbots to get headlines and updates, director Mitali Mukherjee wrote. Attached to Britain's Oxford University, the Reuters Institute annual report is seen as unmissable for people following the ways the media is changing. Just 7% of people report using AI to find news, according to the Institute's poll of 97,000 people in 48 countries, carried out by YouGov. But the proportion is higher among the young, at 12% of under-35s and 15% of under-25s. The biggest-name chatbot – OpenAI's ChatGPT – is the most widely used, followed by Google's Gemini and Meta's Llama. Respondents appreciated relevant, personalised news from chatbots. Many more used AI to summarise (27%), translate (24%) or recommend (21%) articles, while almost one in five asked questions about current events. Distrust remains, with those polled on balance saying AI risked making the news less transparent, less accurate and less trustworthy. Rather than being programmed, today's powerful AI "large language models" (LLMs) are "trained" on vast quantities of data from the web and other sources – including news media like text articles or video reports. Once trained, they are able to generate text and images in response to users' natural-language queries. But they present problems including "hallucinations", the term used when AI invents information that fits patterns in their training data but is not true. Scenting a chance at revenue in a long-squeezed market, some news organisations have struck deals to share their content with developers of AI models. Agence France-Presse (AFP) allows the Mistral model from the French company of the same name to access its archive of news stories going back decades. Other media have launched copyright cases against AI makers over alleged illegal use of their content, for example the New York Times against ChatGPT developer OpenAI. Away from AI, the Reuters Institute report pointed to traditional media – TV, radio, newspapers and news sites – losing ground to social networks and video-sharing platforms. Almost half of 18-24-year-olds report that social media like TikTok is their main source of news, especially in emerging countries like India, Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand. The shift in news consumption habits has hit outlets' bottom lines. Tuesday's report said it has also given a leg-up to politicians like US President Donald Trump or Argentina's Javier Milei, who have been able to talk past traditional gatekeepers to reach voters directly. – AFP
New Straits Times
4 days ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Poll finds public turning to AI bots for news updates
PARIS: People are increasingly turning to generative artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT to follow day-to-day news, a respected media report published Tuesday found. The yearly survey from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found "for the first time" that significant numbers of people were using chatbots to get headlines and updates, director Mitali Mukherjee wrote. Attached to Britain's Oxford University, the Reuters Institute annual report is seen as unmissable for people following the ways the media is changing. Just seven per cent of people report using AI to find news, according to the Institute's poll of 97,000 people in 48 countries, carried out by YouGov. But the proportion is higher among the young, at 12 per cent of under-35s and 15 per cent of under-25s. The biggest-name chatbot – OpenAI's ChatGPT – is the most widely used, followed by Google's Gemini and Meta's Llama. Respondents appreciated relevant, personalised news from chatbots. Many more used AI to summarise (27 per cent), translate (24 per cent) or recommend (21 per cent) articles, while almost one in five asked questions about current events. Distrust remains, with those polled on balance saying AI risked making the news less transparent, less accurate and less trustworthy. Rather than being programmed, today's powerful AI "large language models" (LLMs) are "trained" on vast quantities of data from the web and other sources – including news media like text articles or video reports. Once trained, they are able to generate text and images in response to users' natural-language queries. But they present problems including "hallucinations", the term used when AI invents information that fits patterns in their training data but is not true. Scenting a chance at revenue in a long-squeezed market, some news organisations have struck deals to share their content with developers of AI models. Agence France-Presse (AFP) allows the Mistral model from the French company of the same name to access its archive of news stories going back decades. Other media have launched copyright cases against AI makers over alleged illegal use of their content, for example the New York Times against ChatGPT developer OpenAI. Away from AI, the Reuters Institute report pointed to traditional media – TV, radio, newspapers and news sites – losing ground to social networks and video-sharing platforms. Almost half of 18–24-year-olds report that social media like TikTok is their main source of news, especially in emerging countries like India, Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand. The shift in news consumption habits has hit outlets' bottom lines. Tuesday's report said it has also given a leg-up to politicians like US President Donald Trump or Argentina's Javier Milei, who have been able to talk past traditional gatekeepers to reach voters directly.
