Arthur Mensch, founder of French artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI, attended the Viva Technology exhibition held at the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Center in Paris, France on May 22, 2024.
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PARIS — It’s not uncommon for CEOs of well-known technology companies to be surrounded by fans or startup founders at industry conferences around the world, seeking to make connections.
But it’s not the big names who are flocking here. Instead, the founders of some of the world’s hottest and newest artificial intelligence startups are grabbing all the attention and trying to push it away.
VivaTech is one of the largest technology exhibitions in Europe. Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI, and Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, attended the exhibition.
Mistral AI is a French startup just over a year old that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and secured Microsoft. The company is valued at $2 billion, but in recent times Report Suggesting that it is seeking more financing at a valuation of $6 billion. Mistral AI develops an artificial intelligence model that is very similar to OpenAI, and its rapid rise has put its CEO Mensch in the spotlight.
After finishing his panel in front of an audience on the official VivaTech stage on Wednesday, he was quickly ushered out of the speaker waiting room and into an adjoining conference room. The speaker room is located in an exclusive and restricted-access part of the VivaTech event called the Viva Lounge.
After the meeting, Mensch was quickly rushed out of the venue through the back door by two of his colleagues. Mensch’s colleagues don’t seem to want him to be mobbed by the media or other startup representatives. One man shook Mensch’s hand very briefly.
Anthropic’s Amodei also attracted a lot of attention. As soon as his on-stage VivaTech session ended on Wednesday, he walked out of the Viva Lounge to a crowd of people and numerous cameras – most likely media cameras.
Amazon About $4 billion has been invested in Anthropic, which was only founded in 2021.
Mistral AI and Anthropic are both examples of artificial intelligence companies thrust into the spotlight seemingly overnight, thanks to huge investments from well-known industry giants and the hype surrounding the technology.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, for example, has become a more well-known figure as his company has grown at a breakneck pace and its stock price has continued to rise strongly.
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