May 17, 2026
Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI, warned of Europe's growing cybersecurity dependency before a French commission of inquiry. Referring to Anthropic's AI model "Mythos," Mensch said modern models can now orchestrate attacks, detect vulnerabilities, and suggest exploits. This isn't exclusive to US systems; Mistral's own models or Chinese models could find the same vulnerabilities tied to Mythos, Mensch claims.
Mensch argued the French army's code bases should not be scanned by Mythos, as it would create a dependency that's nearly impossible to reverse. The EU is currently negotiating with OpenAI and Anthropic for early access to their most capable cybersecurity models.
On Mistral's independence, Mensch said US investors hold less than 30 percent of the company. European capital was preferred but wasn't available in sufficient amounts. A sale isn't planned: Mistral aims to stay independent and eventually go public. It remains the only EU company with competitive language models.
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