Standoff nine days before the vote. The boss of Mistral AI asks parliamentarians to reject the Darcos bill. This text facilitates recourse by creators against AI suppliers.
Arthur Mensch weighs the company's future data centers in the balance. In exchange, he pleads for a European contribution paid by all AI players. The text returns to the National Assembly on November 19.
Key Points
In a text published on November 8, Arthur Mensch considers it impossible to overturn the presumption for a cutting-edge model.
Laure Darcos responded to him with an open letter and criticizes Mistral for the absence of licensing agreements with culture.
Blocked in June, the text was reinstated by the socialist group for November 19.
Mistral AI puts its data centers in the balance
Sunday, November 8, Arthur Mensch published a long text on X entitled “Where will we train the next generation of our models? ". He recalls that Mistral is developing 1 GW of computing capacity. The company wants to install it “mainly in Europe and largely in France”.
However, according to the CEO, the Darcos law will weigh on the establishment of a data center in Essonne or abroad. Same thing for the location of the research work. This risk “will make the difference for us and for our customers,” he writes on X.
His criticism targets the mechanics of the text. The proposal establishes a presumption of use of works, triggered by a simple index. It is then up to the AI provider to prove that a work was not used to train its model. On a corpus of billions of words, this proof requires, according to him, to “expose its industrial secrets”.
Mensch concedes a point. The presumption remains rebuttable, therefore contestable before the judge, and limited to civil matters. However, he predicts “an inextricable judicialization” of relations between rights holders and AI actors. According to him, this conflict would last until the arrival of a European text, since Brussels is already working on the issue.
The European contribution rather than the Darcos law
Mistral is pushing another path in Brussels. This is a contribution based on the turnover of AI suppliers active in Europe, including foreign ones. This money would then feed a fund for European creation.
The idea is not new. Arthur Mensch had already defended it in an article in the Financial Times in March. Moreover, Renaissance MP Céline Calvez took it up again on July 1 in a report of 26 recommendations. This calls for a mandatory contribution from all AI suppliers.
The CEO also relies on article 53 of the European regulation on AI. Applicable since August 2, 2025, it already imposes a policy of respect for copyright on suppliers of general models. They must also publish a summary of their training data.
On the press side, the account is not there. In fact, Reporters Without Borders identified 230 public agreements between AI publishers and media in September. And 71% of them concern English-speaking Western titles.
Laure Darcos hits back before the November 19 exam
Senator Horizons de l’Essonne was quick to respond. She responds in an open letter published on LinkedIn on November 8. According to her, Mistral should have set an example by signing licensing agreements with culture. She also cites the cascade of lawsuits initiated in the United States.
His last grievance goes less well. Laure Darcos accuses the start-up of abandoning generative AI in favor of the cloud and data centers. However, Mistral Large 4 was released a month ago, trained in Bruyères-le-Châtel.
The single-article text was voted unanimously in the Senate on April 8. Then the Assembly committee adopted it on June 2. He never reached the chamber on June 11. According to Reporters Without Borders, Gabriel Attal's Ensemble pour la République group had tabled 100 of the 110 amendments.
The socialist group re-listed it in sixth position in its November 19 niche. Still according to RSF, Boris Vallaud would threaten to withdraw it if these amendments remain. The Macronist group therefore has until Tuesday, November 10 to get rid of it.
Furthermore, the Minister of Digital Anne Le Hénanff had feared an increase in disputes during the debates. She belongs to the same Horizons party as the senator.
