Mistral advocates for ‘content tax’ on AI companies: “European rules satisfy no one”

Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch believes AI companies should pay a fair contribution for the use of copyrighted work and speaks out against European legislation.

The balance between AI development and copyright is a very delicate one. To train models, AI companies have scraped all publicly available content from the internet. Copyright was not taken into account, let alone authors receiving fair compensation. For Arthur Mensch, CEO of the French company Mistral, this now seems to be a point of contention.

In an op-ed for the Financial Times, Mensch proposes a ‘content levy’ to compensate authors for the use of their work. AI companies would then give up a portion of their revenue to be passed on to authors. However, the op-ed is also intended as a critique of the European rules for AI training.

Content tax

According to Mensch, there is an urgent need for a fair and clear system in Europe, as American and Chinese AI companies also use European content for their models. Mistral proposes a revenue-based levy that AI companies wishing to offer their services in Europe—both European and non-European—would have to pay. Mensch does not specify what percentage of revenue that should be.

The proceeds would flow into a central European fund intended to support the cultural sectors. In exchange for fair compensation, AI companies would receive legal certainty and protection against liability. This is intended to avoid further lawsuits in the future.

Critique of European rules

The CEO of Mistral is not writing his op-ed out of pure Samaritan charity, but also to make a point. The opinion is also intended as a critique of the European Union’s legal framework. Mensch has repeatedly spoken out openly against it because, in his view, European legislation is too fragmented and hinders the competitiveness of European companies.

Recently, the European Parliament voted on new rules regarding copyright. These also mention compensation, although the European rules primarily operate on an opt-out system. Mensch is not a fan of this, as it is not feasible in practice.

“Copyrighted works continue to spread online unchecked, while legal regulations are applied inconsistently and are too complex. The result is a regulatory framework that satisfies no one. Rightsholders rightly fear for their income, and artificial intelligence developers are faced with legal uncertainty that stands in the way of investment and growth,” Mensch writes.