The new chat assistant Le Chat, developed by the French AI company Mistral AI, surpassed 1 million downloads just two weeks after its mobile version was launched. Particularly popular in France, Le Chat has risen to the top of the free apps category on the European App Store.
One of the key factors behind Le Chat’s rapid success was French President Emmanuel Macron. Ahead of the AI Action Summit in Paris, Macron encouraged French citizens to download Le Chat instead of foreign applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT during a television interview. While some found Macron’s statement amusing, it ultimately boosted the app’s download numbers.
Le Chat offers users natural language conversations, real-time internet searches, in-depth document analysis, and AI-generated image creation. According to Mistral AI, it can respond at a speed of 1,000 words per second, making it faster than existing ChatGPT models. The app is available for free on App Store and Google Play, but premium plans with unlimited access and exclusive language models range from $14.99 to $24.99 per month.
Among chatbots, DeepSeek R1, a Chinese AI model, had recently achieved similar rapid success. After gaining recognition in Silicon Valley, it quickly became popular worldwide.
