French AI lab Mistral AI released Mistral Large 4 on Tuesday, a 1-trillion-parameter multimodal model it positions as a European answer to both American closed models and Chinese open-weight rivals. TechCrunch reported the launch, citing Mistral VP of Science Pierre Stock. The model is nicknamed Le Chonk, a nod to its size.
The release matters because it tests whether a smaller European player can still compete at the frontier. Mistral says ML4 was trained entirely on its own compute using 4,000 Nvidia GPUs, two to three times fewer than its Chinese competitors and significantly fewer than closed-source labs. For now, access runs through a public guardrail endpoint.
Mistral Large 4 specs and Le Chonk nickname
Mistral Large 4 is not an open-weight model yet. Its weights are set to be published in about three weeks, once safety testing is complete. Until then, users reach it only through a guarded endpoint, and Mistral says it will work with trusted partners and governments to make sure the open weights can be used to defend, but not to perform malicious attacks.
The nickname Le Chonk refers to the model's 1 trillion parameters. Mistral frames ML4 as a third way in AI, a phrase French president Macron used, sitting between closed models that can be unplugged and open models often made in China. Benchmark results are still pending.
Stock told TechCrunch that the company hopes ML4 will be best in class among open-weight models, especially outside China, but not only there. Thanks to focused training, it could also beat closed models in specific areas that matter to Mistral's enterprise and institutional customers.
- Parameters: 1 trillion, hence the Le Chonk nickname
- Compute: trained entirely on Mistral's own infrastructure using 4,000 Nvidia GPUs
