The 21 billion euro valuation for Mistral AI, while impressive, only shows one company's specific success at one specific moment.
It’s a narrow lens that doesn't mean the AI Act suddenly works for everyone; liquidity for smaller companies is finite and dwindling.
That single big number diverts attention from the actual costs and the paperwork mountain other businesses face daily.
A startup here in Spain, for example, can't just throw money at regulatory problems; they’re rationing every euro for real operational needs like servers, not just lawyers.
This kind of massive valuation can be a distraction from the persistent challenges the majority of AI companies encounter.