The Parisian firm’s open source Mistral Large 4 system is “state of the art” in areas that are “absolutely key for customers,” said Pierre Stock, vice-president for science. He cited cybersecurity, manufacturing, financial services and the ability to work with images as well as text. (The Logic)

Talking point: Large firms are increasingly employing open source AI models, typically from Chinese developers; while they aren’t quite as powerful as those of Anthropic and OpenAI, the systems are significantly cheaper and can be run on users’ own AI infrastructure, keeping them in control. Mistral targets that same big-business market, and sells its technology as a European and sovereign alternative to U.S. and Chinese AI. But its technology has lagged the so-called frontier, chief scientist Guillaume Lample acknowledged. Now, “we have essentially closed this gap.” Cybersecurity could be a key application, amid growing fears of AI-powered hacks. Clients have complained they can’t afford or rely on OpenAI and Anthropic tools for their defences, which require constant scanning and therefore use a lot of AI capacity, Lample claimed. “Open models are really, for them, a chance to actually secure their infrastructure.” 

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