Mistral CEO believes the world will go beyond AI models this year

The head of one of Europe’s hottest AI startups said he expects AI technology to go beyond big language models this year.

Arthur Mensch, CEO of French AI firm Mistral, told CNBC that he sees the product focus on AI shifting broadly away from models in 2025 and more toward “systems” that integrate models and contextual business data.

“I think the focus should be on systems,” Mensch told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal in an interview Tuesday. “Models are part of systems, but systems are connected to data, connected to tools, capable of doing things on their behalf, capable of acting agentively.”

Founded just two years ago, Mistral has quickly become one of the most hyped AI companies in Europe. achieving a valuation of 6 billion dollars and support from the American technology giant microsoft last year. Considered a competitor to OpenAI, the startup is behind the development of several large open source language models.

Last year we saw many Rumors are emerging in the technology industry about so-called AI “agents.” This refers to the idea of ​​AI assistants that can autonomously perform actions with limited human supervision. Unlike AI chatbots like ChatGPT, the models are designed to run largely in the background.

Mensch sees that AI systems in the future will benefit the large language models that are built into them. He said that by connecting the models with relevant contextual data, they will be able to offer better customized solutions for different business needs.

“That’s where this is changing,” Mensch said. “It also means that the industry that is adopting it will distill its expertise into those systems, and that’s where it will be needed to really drive the value of AI in those industries.”

AI is the talk from the annual forum of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this year. The event is known for bringing together the world’s most influential business and political leaders.

On the Davos Promenade, which is the focal point of the annual event, major companies from Salesforce to Workday took over cafes, shops and restaurants, building temporary spaces for meetings and events with branding displaying the word “AI.”