Mistral says "Le Chonk" can challenge the best AI models

French company Mistral has released a new freely available model named Mistral Large 4, nicknamed Le Chonk, which the company claims can challenge top models from the US and China. The new one trillion-parameter model is currently in preview, with a final version expected by the end of the month.

While built as a general-purpose model, Mistral optimized it for coding, cyberdefense, manufacturing, finance, and electrical engineering. Mistral states that the model was trained from scratch, positioning it as the most capable open-weight model outside China. Mistral cofounder and chief scientist Guillaume Lample told WIRED that the company aims to improve models in specialized domains where other labs spend less focus.

Because open-weight models only cost as much as the compute they consume, they are cheaper for businesses to run than closed alternatives. Mistral believes the release eliminates the remaining reasons for businesses to hesitate on open source software. The release follows a period of financial growth for Mistral, which recently raised a $3.3 billion funding round at a $24 billion valuation.

While the company has historically lagged behind US labs in performance and release frequency due to having less capital, it generates revenue through cloud pay-as-you-go fees and custom