The European “champion” of artificial intelligence is targeting the technology giants in the United States
Arthur Mensch, tall and thin with a mop of unkempt hair, arrived for a talk last month at a sprawling Paris technology center wearing jeans and carrying a bicycle helmet. He looked unassuming, as someone European officials are counting on to push the region into a high-stakes game with the United States and China over artificial intelligence.Mensch, 31, is the CEO and founder of Mistral, considered by many to be one of the most promising challengers to OpenAI and Google. “You have become the symbol of artificial intelligence in France,” Matt Clifford, a British investor, told him on stage.Much depends on Mr. Mensch, whose company shot to prominence just a year after he founded it in Paris with two college friends. As Europe races to gain a foothold in the AI revolution, the French gov...