Mistral unveils new AI model it says rivals best open systems from China

Mistral on Tuesday unveiled a new AI model it said ranked among the best open models in the world, as Western companies race to close the capability gap with Chinese developers in the market.Mistral Large 4 (ML4), also known as le Chonk, is a 1-trillion-parameter model that is particularly effective at tasks related to cyber, coding, manufacturing, finance and multimodal, the French company said.Long considered Europe's only answer to OpenAI and Anthropic, Mistral raised a 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) Series D in September at a 21 billion euro valuation. The round cemented the company's status as one of the best-funded and most valuable AI startups in the region. Access to so-called open AI models — the most capable of which have been Chinese — has become a key flashpoint in the intensifying race for technological supremacy between the U.S. and China. Open AI models can be modified and self-hosted, in contrast to leading closed systems produced by OpenAI and Anthropic. Chinese open models are increasingly being adopted around the world.Mistral Large 4 is being launched in preview to developers and "cybersecurity leaders," alongside state authorities, before it is released more wi...