PARIS, July 24 (Reuters) - Google Cloud will

use Mistral AI's Codestral artificial intelligence model for

Google's Vertex AI service, Google Cloud said on Wednesday.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT:

The partnership highlights the rapid growth and popularity

of Mistral AI, which many analysts view as the European

alternative to the Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed OpenAI.

Google, meanwhile, is building its own generative AI product

Vertex AI.

KEY QUOTES:

"Today, we're announcing that Google Cloud is the first

hyperscaler to introduce Codestral - Mistral AI's first

open-weight generative AI model explicitly designed for code

generation tasks - as a fully-managed service."

"These additions continue Google Cloud's commitment to open

and flexible AI ecosystems that help you build solutions

best-suited to your needs."

CONTEXT:

Mistral AI is a Paris-based startup firm founded in 2023 by

former Google Deep Mind and Meta AI scientists that has raised

more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in funding.

In July, French bank BNP Paribas struck a

partnership agreement with Mistral AI, whereby BNP Paribas will

use Mistral AI's large language models across multiple business

areas, such as customer support, sales and IT.

($1 = 0.9216 euros)