Enterprises have faced challenges in achieving a return on investment from their use of AI tools. Now, AI companies are employing a new strategy to ensure their technology has a lasting impact by collaborating with consultants.
On Thursday, French AI research lab Mistral AI and global consulting giant Accenture announced a multi-year collaboration. This partnership involves the two companies working jointly to create enterprise technology utilizing Mistral’s AI models for their clients.
The financial specifics and duration of the agreement were not revealed. TechCrunch has reached out for more details.
As part of the agreement, Accenture will also become a customer of Mistral and will implement its technology for its staff.
Although Mistral is often viewed as a smaller European counterpart to large U.S. AI “startups,” this partnership indicates that Mistral can still secure significant clients, especially as OpenAI and Anthropic have also recently announced partnerships with Accenture.
This agreement reflects a trend of AI companies increasingly collaborating with consulting firms. Recently, OpenAI announced its “Frontier Alliance” initiative, partnering with four major consulting firms, including Accenture, to promote its OpenAI Frontier AI agent governance platform to enterprise customers. Additionally, Anthropic has alliances with IBM and Deloitte.
Can partnering with consulting firms be the key to greater enterprise AI adoption? It’s uncertain, but AI companies are evidently exploring this possibility.