French AI company announces new, private model

Frenchtech company Mistral on Tuesday announced the upcoming release of "Le Chonk," its biggest AIopen-weight model, aimed at users wanting to keep their data private.

Popular AI models from companies like Anthropic and OpenAIrely on closed models.

Le Chonk, officially named Mistral Large 4, will be made publicly available on October 27, with cybersecurity experts and government authorities receiving access to a version of the model with fewer safety restrictions to test its capabilities.

Last month, Mistral raised €3 billion euros ($3.4 billion), Europe's biggest technology fundraising.

The new AI model allows users to download and customize "weights" that determine how it computes on their own servers.

An open-weight model means a user can download the software and run it on their own hardware. While the top US models run on their own models, many of their Chinesecompetitors are open-weight.

Europe's AI hope

Mistral, considered Europe's leading AI company, said the new model outperforms many rival open-weight models.

Le Chonk is the three-year-old company's first new model release since May.

According to Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, the new model is "actually above the Chinese models" in certain areas, including cyber.

"The narrative that Europe cannot compete is something that is not true," Mensch said at the company's event in Abu Dhabi, without specifying which Chinese models he was referring to.

MIstral has positioned itself as a safer European alternative in comparison to its main US competitors, especially given the latter companies' recent warnings regarding AI's dangers.

Europe's quest for digital independence

Edited by: Sean Sinico

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