Mistral released its Large 4 model to the public on Thursday, October 29, Reuters reported. Unlike leading AI systems such as Google's Gemini, which are mainly accessed through online services, Large 4 can be downloaded and run independently by anyone, on their own systems.

The released version is an upgrade from the one Mistral unveiled three weeks ago, following testing with governments and corporate users that helped improve its performance. Mistral described it as its most capable openly available model for cybersecurity use — designed to help organisations identify and fix vulnerabilities — competing in a field dominated by Chinese AI models.

"I'm not comfortable living in a world in which open weights do not exist," Mistral Vice President of Science Pierre Stock said. Once the model is out, he added, "it's impossible to contain access" — that protects users from being cut off, but it also means anyone can use it.