Mistral warns France's AI copyright bill could push its data centres abroad ahead of 19 November debate

What happened

On Sunday 8 November 2026, Mistral AI chief executive Arthur Mensch warned in a LinkedIn post that France's proposed AI copyright law, the Darcos law, could influence where Mistral builds future data centres and conducts research. Mistral intends to develop about 1GW of computing capacity by 2030, mainly in Europe and largely in France, but Mensch said the bill 'weighed directly' on those choices: 'When it comes to building and using a data centre in Essonne or another outside France, when it comes to choosing where to carry out our research, this risk will make the difference for us and for our clients.'

The bill

The proposal, sponsored by Senator Laure Darcos, would introduce a rebuttable presumption that an AI provider had used a protected work when evidence relating to a system's development, deployment or output made that use plausible. It would apply to civil disputes. The Senate adopted it unanimously on 8 April 2026, and the National Assembly's cultural affairs committee approved the text on 2 June; the text was then kept off the Assembly's agenda on 12 May. It is back on the agenda through the Socialist group's parliamentary slot, with a debate scheduled for 19 November 2026 and a compromise amendment possible. France's Conseil d'Etat said in a March opinion that the mechanism concerned presumed use, rather than presumed copyright infringement.

Context

Mensch argued the bill would expose French AI developers to litigation when making infrastructure decisions for the next decade, and proposed instead a contribution based on the revenue of all AI providers operating commercially in Europe to fund European creation. The bill is not law yet: a Senate vote is not a preview of the Assembly's mood, and a compromise amendment may narrow the presumption or attach conditions. No legal finding is claimed here.