Mistral releases new ‘top-tier’ AI model, partners with Microsoft

Less than a year since its founding, Paris-based Mistral is launching a new AI flagship model for developers, Mistral Large — just a few months after the release of its first model, Mistral 7B. 

Much like its predecessor, Mistral Large is an open-source generative AI model. According to the startup, it boasts “top-tier” reasoning capabilities and is proficient in code and mathematics. It’s also multilingual and fluent in five languages (English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian). 

“This is a significant milestone for us, as the unparalleled performance of this multilingual model will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with frontier AI,” said the company’s co-founder and CEO Arthur Mesch. 

The startup has also teamed up with Microsoft and is releasing the model on the tech giant’s Azure AI platform, which is now Mistral’s first reselling partner. The partnership makes the startup the second company to launch commercial language models on Azure — right after OpenAI’s ChatGPT. 

Microsoft will help Mistral bring its AI models to market and will take a minor (undisclosed) stake in the startup, the Financial Times reports. 

Meanwhile, Mistral is also launching a multilingual conversational assistant. Called “Le Chat” (the French word for “cat”), the tool will enable conversational interfacing with the company’s AI models. Today, Le Chat enters beta access for early customers and will soon be available for enterprise users. 

The young startup has so far witnessed exponential growth. Last June, it raised €105mn in Europe’s largest-ever seed round, while in December, it reached a €2bn valuation, securing €450mn in investment. Mistral is also one of the main European players offering an alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT alongside Germany’s Aleph Alpha and Helsinki-based Silo AI.