French startup Mistral has unveiled its Magistral Small and Medium models—Europe’s first reasoning-focused AI systems. Magistral Small is fully open-source, while Magistral Medium is tailored for business applications and supports multiple languages. Using chain-of-thought reasoning, these models offer logical problem-solving capabilities and signal Europe’s growing ambition in advanced AI. With backing from President Macron, Mistral is positioning itself as a more transparent, strategic alternative to dominant US and Chinese providers.

Meta Platforms is in negotiations to pump more than $10 billion into Scale AI, the data-labeling startup behind Microsoft and OpenAI training pipelines. Scale AI’s Series F last year valued it at $18 billion after raising $1 billion, and it posted $870 million in 2024 revenue, with forecasts to double in 2025. This prospective funding would rank among the largest private rounds ever. Meta has already invested in Scale AI’s defense-focused “Defense Llama” project, built on its Llama models. The move aligns with Meta’s $68 billion infrastructure spend this year, much of it on Nvidia-powered data centers. Meta aims to weave generative AI into its ad platform by next year, leveraging labeled data to refine user targeting and content creation. So far, its ChatGPT-style rival, Meta.AI, boasts 1 billion monthly users. By deepening ties with Scale AI, Meta signals a strategy to own both the infrastructure and the data pipelines that power next-generation AI. investors.com

At its June 9 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple conceded that its much-anticipated Siri AI revamp will miss initial launch targets. Software chief Craig Federighi explained that meeting Apple’s quality bar demands more development time, turning a once-promised “revolutionary” upgrade into incremental improvements. The event introduced “Apple Intelligence,” a new large-language-model framework for developers, and “Liquid Glass,” a refreshed UI design. Features like live conversation translation and offline AI model access were revealed, but analysts criticized the overall keynote as uninspired. Stocks dipped over 1% as investors weighed Apple’s cautious approach against aggressive AI moves by Google and OpenAI. While Apple plans to open its foundation-model framework to third-party developers, the delay underscores the challenge of integrating advanced AI within tight performance and privacy constraints. nypost.com

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer used his London Tech Week keynote on June 9 to frame artificial intelligence as a force for growth rather than fear. He announced a £1 billion commitment to next-generation AI compute systems, aimed at giving British researchers and startups access to world-class infrastructure (see “Extract,” a planning-assistant tool powered by Google’s Gemini AI). To build talent pipelines, Starmer launched TechFirst, a £187 million program to teach AI skills in schools and reskill 7.5 million workers by 2030. He argued that AI will “create good jobs,” boost public services and drive new industries—if governed responsibly. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined him on stage, lauding the UK’s leadership in AI innovation. Starmer framed technology as “humanizing,” promising oversight alongside investment to address public concerns about automation and data privacy. This speech marks a shift in UK policy from cautious regulation toward active promotion of AI as an economic cornerstone.

Reports in May 2025 indicate that the European Commission is considering postponing the enforcement of certain provisions of the EU AI Act, originally slated to take effect in August 2025. Stakeholders argue that compliance requirements—particularly for general-purpose models—are still under debate, and industry players have pushed back on the feasibility of meeting stringent new obligations within the announced timeline. While no formal decision has been made, the discussion underscores the tension between rapid AI innovation and regulatory prudence. A delay could give providers more time to adapt their governance processes, but it may also signal wavering political will to lead on AI oversight dlapiper.com.