YNSPIRAVibe (Mistral)
Mistral AI
Mistral is the French AI company behind Europe's best-known AI assistant. The assistant itself is called Vibe (formerly Le Chat), but most people just know it as "Mistral". It does much of what ChatGPT does: writes, summarizes, searches the web, generates images and analyzes documents, with one important difference: your data is stored in the EU by default, and the whole tool falls under European privacy law.
The free plan is generous enough that you can test everything that matters without paying.
What you can do with it
Vibe has three modes. Chat is the classic chat experience, and where most people should start. Use it to ask questions, draft text, summarize documents or run Deep Research for more thorough reports with sources. Work is the mode where you hand over tasks with several steps: the assistant writes a plan, shows it to you, and only starts working once you have approved it. Code is the coding agent for developers.
You can connect the tools you already use (Outlook, Gmail, Slack, Notion, calendar) through connectors, and set up scheduled tasks that run automatically, for example a fixed weekly summary of your inbox.
Worth knowing
On the free plan, your conversations can be used to train Mistral's models by default. You can turn that off yourself under the Privacy settings. On paid plans your conversations are not used for training by default. So European does not automatically mean private: check the settings.
Compared to the alternatives
Mistral is the simplest choice when data processing in Europe actually matters to you or your organization, and it is one of the strongest free options regardless. On the heaviest reasoning tasks the models still sit behind the best ones from OpenAI and Anthropic, and the ecosystem is more limited. In return it is very fast, and everything works in Norway from day one, without the EEA delays we are used to from American tools.
Limitations
Mistral does not publish exact usage limits for the free plan, so you only find out in practice whether it is enough for you. Unofficial sources suggest around 25 messages per day. Connecting SharePoint and Google Drive as knowledge sources requires a Team or Enterprise plan and an administrator to set it up.
How to use it
Go to chat.mistral.ai and create a free account. Start in Chat mode, which looks a lot like other AI chats such as ChatGPT or Copilot. Connect your tools from the Connectors page in the left menu when you are ready. Check the training settings under Privacy first if you are going to share anything work-related.
Features
Three modes
Chat (classic chat), Work (hand over tasks with several steps, with a plan and your approval) and Code (for developers).
Connectors
Links to the tools you already use: Outlook, Gmail, Slack, Notion, calendar and more. By default the assistant asks for permission before it sends or creates anything, unless you have changed the setting to "Always allow".
Deep Research
Ask for a thorough research report, and Vibe searches, reads and pulls the sources together on its own before it delivers a structured report with citations.
Memories and Custom instructions
Memories remembers things about you across conversations, and you steer it straight from the chat: "Remember that I always want answers in Norwegian" or "Forget what I said about project X". Custom instructions are your other standing preferences, such as tone, format and language, that apply in every conversation.
Scheduled tasks
Set up tasks that run by themselves: once, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Typical examples are a Monday summary of your inbox, a weekly draft status report, or a monthly reminder about deadlines.
Image generation and voice mode
Create images directly in the chat by describing what you want, or talk to the assistant instead of typing when that suits you better, for example on the go. Both are included on the free plan, but image generation has low quotas there.
Tips for good use
- Start in Chat mode. It gives you something useful from the first minute, without having to learn anything new.
- On the free plan? Check and adjust the model training settings before you start using the tool. Your conversations are used to train Mistral's models by default unless you turn it off.
- Connect email and calendar through connectors. "Check unread emails from this week and list everyone who is waiting for a reply from me" is a good first test.
- Try a scheduled task. A fixed Monday summary of your inbox takes little effort and can be useful for a lot of people.
- Working in Work mode? Always read the plan Mistral has made and adjust it before you approve it.
Available on
Links and pricing
AI is an assistant, not an authority. Always verify what matters.