French AI Company Launches ‘Le Chat’ — A New Chatbot for iPhone Users

We’ve been following the release of DeepSeek and how it’s shaken up the AI landscape and the investor community. The fact that DeepSeek is a Chinese company adds an additional layer of complexity, given the data collection and user privacy concerns that have reached a boiling point with TikTok.

Yesterday, another major player from a different country released a free iOS (and Android) app. Mistral AI’s Le Chat app is now available for download. Here’s a bit more about Le Chat and why its release on the heels of DeepSeek raises interesting considerations for users.

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Mistral AI is a French company that’s taken a different path to launch than DeepSeek. While achieving more (ish) than less was at the center of the disruption caused by DeepSeek, Mistral AI raised nearly $650 million last summer. Along the same lines as Open AI’s ChatGPT, Le Chat isn’t a bootstrapped effort.

Le Chat’s release after DeepSeek may prove to be serendipitous for Mistral AI. DeepSeek’s undeniable connection to China has raised alarm bells for many would-be users. Many business leaders are exploring AI chatbots to integrate at the enterprise level. These executives have a responsibility to protect company, employee, and customer data. Embedding a tool that shares data with China probably raises some eyebrows in the boardroom. The National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China requires explicitly, that:

All organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.

Will Le Chat be able to nudge aside the likes of ChatGPT and DeepSeek with both individuals and businesses? We’ll see. We haven’t had a chance to do much testing yet, but Le Chat offers some compelling tools at competitive prices. Le Chat’s “personal AI assistant for life and work” free plan provides limited access to Mistral AI’s top-performing models for web browsing, file uploads, data analysis, image generation, and “flash answers.”

A Pro plan is $14.99/month and removes usage limits on all tools, offers dedicated support, and allows you to opt out of sharing your data. That’s 25% cheaper OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus plan. For businesses and larger enterprises, Mistral AI offers a “secure, collaborative, AI-powered workspace” starting at $24.99/month per user in addition to custom plans. Give Le Chat a try by downloading it from the App Store here.