AI does 'coding' and 'security' itself? The emergence of French Mistral's massive model 'Le Chonk'

Imagine this: You have assigned a high-level task to an AI, such as writing complex programming code or analyzing a company’s vast financial data. What if the AI could handle in an instant what would take hours or days? It would be like having a skilled assistant quietly doing the work for you. Recently, the French AI company Mistral released a ‘big’ friend that will bring this future much closer. Its name is ‘Le Chonk’.

Why is this important?

While ‘Le Chonk’ is a cute nickname derived from an internet meme about cats, its reality is very powerful. Designed to go beyond the level of simply asking and answering questions, it is built to perform ‘expert-level tasks’ such as actual coding or protecting corporate cybersecurity. [Source 4] This signals that we have fully entered the era of ‘Agents,’ where AI goes beyond being a ‘secretary’ that answers questions to ‘agents’ that plan and execute tasks on their own. [Source 15]

Easy understanding

1. What does having 1 trillion parameters mean? First, the term ‘parameter’ might be unfamiliar. Parameters refer to the countless ‘numeric values’ that an AI remembers and adjusts during the learning process. Simply put, they are the ‘brain cells’ of an AI. The higher this number, the more nuanced and complex information the AI can understand. Le Chonk has about 1.005 trillion parameters, which is an indicator of how deeply the AI understands the vast information in the world. [Source 3] To use an analogy, if a typical AI has read one encyclopedia, Le Chonk has the ability to understand and connect the entire contents of a library.

2. What is an agent? For example, if a feature that picks a filter when retouching a photo on a smartphone is an ‘answering AI,’ an agent is a ‘practitioner AI’ that takes the photo, automatically adjusts the optimal brightness and saturation, and even saves it in a specific folder. Le Chonk is specialized in performing complex practical tasks that require a lot of human time, such as coding, financial data analysis, and product design. [Source 4]

Current status

Mistral officially calls this model ‘Mistral Large 4’. General users can experience it in advance via API, and by the end of October, Mistral plans to make the ‘weights’ containing the structure of this model available for anyone to download. [Source 3, Source 17]

A unique point is that before the official release, it is undergoing a very special process for security purposes. Currently, Mistral is conducting ‘red-teaming’ (mock hacking and vulnerability assessment team) tests in advance with cybersecurity experts, corporate partners, and government authorities to ensure the model is not misused for malicious purposes. [Source 1] This highlights the sense of responsibility that comes with powerful AI technology.

What will happen in the future?

Experts evaluate that Le Chonk boasts the most powerful performance among open-weight models developed outside of China, and shows ‘very close performance’ comparable to the top-tier models of tech giants like Google or OpenAI. [Source 6]

In the future, as high-performance agent-type AIs like Le Chonk become more widely available, an era will come where even those who are not familiar with coding can create their own software or easily perform professional financial analysis with the help of AI. In short, AI is evolving from an ‘encyclopedia that answers anything’ to a ‘competent expert that does anything on your behalf.’ However, as technology advances, social discourse on how to use it safely and ethically must mature as well.

References

1. [Introducing Mistral Large 4

   Mistral](https://mistral.ai/news/mistral-large-4/)

2. Mistral’s ‘LeChonk’ is a Trillion-Parameter Bet on Open Weights
3. Mistral Unveils 1.05T-Parameter ‘LeChonk’ MoE Model in Public…
4. Mistral’s New ‘LeChonk’ AI Model Is Big, Open and Built for… - CNET
5. Mistral Is BACK – Mistral Large 4 First Test (LeChonk!) - YouTube
6. Mistral Says Its New AI Model ‘LeChonk’ Is the Best Open-Weight…
7. LeChonk: почему открытая 1T-модель Mistral пока не заменяет…
8. France’s Mistral says its LeChonk AI model… - The Globe and Mail
9. Французская Mistral представила LeChonk — ИИ с 1 трлн…
10. Mistral AI Drops ‘LeChonk’: A Massive AI Model Named… - Decrypt