India can become a global AI innovation hub: Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch

French startup Mistral AI’s cofounder and chief executive Arthur Mensch feels India can become a global innovation hub for AI due to its talent pool and industrial strength, adding that a quarter of his firm’s researchers are Indians.

“The country’s talent, cultural diversity, ambition, market scale, and industrial strength position it to build differentiated AI solutions and become a major exporter,’’ Mensch said.

His keynote on the fourth day of the summit focussed on the growing concerns around three or four companies controlling AI models. He emphasised that decentralising AI is essential and the first step is to make it open source.


“We face a real risk of excessive concentration of power in AI. We do not want a world where three or four companies control AI development, deployment, access to information, and infrastructure,” he said.

Mensch urged the government to invest in AI infrastructure, distribute it, train engineers, and build local language content.

“Every country and economic region must have a strategy to own at least part of this value chain. Partnerships will always be necessary, but avoiding excessive leverage is critical for global stability,” he noted, adding that enterprises must build their own systems and train their unique AI agents.

Mistral is expected to top one billion euros ($1.2 billion) in revenue this year, Mensch had said at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. In September 2025, the company raised 1.7 billion euros at a valuation of 11.7 billion euros.