6.4 Europe — Rule and Exception

Rule and Exception: How Europe regulated AI and made Mistral emerge from the improbableIn 2016, AlphaGo defeated the world champion of Go. In 2020, AlphaFold solved the protein folding problem. In 2024, Demis Hassabis received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. DeepMind, founded in London, had proven that Europe could produce AI excellence.Then came the rule. On July 12, 2024, the European AI Act was published — the world's first comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence. Europe was choosing to regulate what it did not dominate.But the exception emerged where no one expected it. In April 2023, three Frenchmen founded Mistral in Paris. Eighteen months later, the company was valued at fourteen billion dollars. The three founders became the first French AI billionaires.Europe has drawn red lines — mass facial recognition prohibited, behavioral manipulation banned. It has also proven it can innovate.Rule and exception coexist. History will tell which prevails.