French artificial intelligence company Mistral AI has achieved a major milestone with its chatbot assistant, Le Chat, surpassing 1 million downloads just two weeks after its mobile app launch. Gaining significant traction, particularly in France, Le Chat has risen to the top of the free app category on the App Store across Europe.
A key factor in Le Chat’s rapid rise was the endorsement from French President Emmanuel Macron. Ahead of the AI Action Summit in Paris, Macron suggested in a televised interview that French citizens should use Mistral AI’s homegrown Le Chat instead of “foreign” applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While some found his recommendation amusing, it undoubtedly boosted the popularity of the French startup.
Le Chat offers users a range of features, including natural language conversations, real-time internet searches, comprehensive document analysis, and advanced image generation. According to Mistral AI, Le Chat can generate up to 1,000 words per second, making it faster than ChatGPT’s current models. The app is available for free on both the App Store and Google Play, with premium plans priced between 14.99 and 24.99 per month, offering unlimited usage and access to specialized language models.
Le Chat’s success highlights the growing influence of local AI solutions in the global market. A similar achievement was recently seen with Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, whose R1 model gained significant popularity, particularly in Silicon Valley, after making waves in the tech community.
Le Chat’s rise underscores the potential of homegrown AI technologies to compete on a global scale, marking an exciting development in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
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