Airbus has entered into a partnership with French AI startup Mistral AI to expand the use of AI across its aviation, defense and space businesses.
The European aerospace giants aim to incorporate artificial intelligence into their commercial aircraft, helicopters, defense and space operations, according to a joint press statement released Thursday.
Under the agreement, Airbus will have access to Mistral AI’s full range of products and researchers, allowing the company to develop custom AI tools for complex aerospace projects.
Airbus said the partnership will focus on “trustworthy” and “secure” AI, especially for sensitive defense and aerospace applications.
“This partnership paves the way for the deployment of high-impact, high-value use cases for trusted and responsible AI in aerospace,” said Katherine Jestyn, Airbus’ executive vice president of digital, in a statement.
“Together, we will deploy Mistral’s fully integrated AI stack to accelerate innovation, help improve flight safety, and deliver greater value to our customers,” said Timothy Lacroix, co-founder and chief technology officer of Mistral AI.
The partnership will give Airbus access to Mistral’s research team and give it some influence over the company’s product roadmap.
Both companies have identified several priority areas for collaboration. These include automating the exploration and technical documentation of AI systems that can be used onboard aircraft and spacecraft, accelerating engineering design cycles with AI-driven simulations, and developing so-called edge AI capabilities (i.e., models that run directly on hardware) for applications such as automatic object recognition to support flight safety.
We are also researching defense applications such as cyber investigation and coding support in high-security environments.
The two companies said they would cooperate in several key areas, including the development of AI systems that can be used onboard aircraft and spacecraft.
It also plans to use AI-powered simulation to speed up the engineering and aircraft design process.
The partnership will also explore defense-related uses of AI, such as cyber investigations and coding support in highly secure environments.
Timothy LaCroix, co-founder and chief technology officer of Mistral AI, said the two companies will work together to “accelerate innovation, contribute to improved flight safety, and deliver greater value to our customers.”
The partnership comes as European companies and institutions become increasingly wary of relying on US-based AI providers amid concerns about data sovereignty, security breaches and the legal scope of US law for data stored on US-owned infrastructure.
