After the DeepSeek shock

Mistral ignites the AI turbo with “Le Chat”

"Le Chat" is supposed to respond faster than the competition.(Bild: mistral.ai)

Shortly after the "DeepSeek shock", French software developer Mistral is launching the next round in the battle for leadership in artificial intelligence. The Paris-based start-up presented its chatbot on Thursday, which claims to provide faster answers than the competition. "Le Chat" can output up to 1,000 words per second.

"The French and the whole world are now realizing that European players count and offer cutting-edge technology," said Mistral co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch in an interview with the Reuters news agency. There is a need for alternatives to the offerings from the USA and China. "AI has a cultural dimension. I think everyone is beginning to realize that. It's about building European champions."

His company, which is barely two years old, offers its software as open source, similar to DeepSeek from China. This means that the program code is freely accessible and can be modified by anyone.

The breakthrough of the Chinese start-up DeepSeek did not surprise him, Mensch continued. He had already provided the company with technology via open source in 2023. In return, Mistral benefits from new developments of such freely accessible software by other providers.

Movement in the industry
DeepSeek had startled the Western technology world at the end of January. The AI from the previously largely unknown Chinese start-up is reportedly not only on a par with Western competitors such as ChatGPT, but also requires significantly less computing power. In addition, according to the company, the development cost only a fraction of the usual sums.

This has raised hopes that the USA's current AI supremacy is not set in stone. Alongside the German company Aleph Alpha, Mistral is considered the great European hope in the industry and is valued at almost six billion euros.