French AI firm Mistral announced Thursday partnerships with BMW and the aerospace group Airbus as it aims to boost growth by fostering links with defence and industry giants.The Paris-based company, looking to punch above its weight in a sector dominated by US and Chinese firms, said it would be involved with car-crash tests and plane design."The most important use cases for AI are located in research and development and the creation of physical objects," chief executive Arthur Mensch told hundreds of guests at the company's first AI conference in Paris.Mistral is already closely tied with ASML, the Dutch firm producing…