PARIS, July 17 (Reuters) - French start-up Mistral

announced new features to its AI chatbot Le Chat on Thursday as

it tries to carve out a place for itself in a global AI race

dominated by the United States and China.

Often presented as France's and Europe's AI champion,

Mistral competes with American giants such as OpenAI and

Alphabet's Google, but lags behind in terms of market share or

revenues.

"We're making Le Chat even more capable, more intuitive -

and more fun - with a collection of powerful new features to

help you research more thoroughly, express yourself more

naturally, and keep your interactions - text, voice, and images

- organized in context", said Mistral in a blog post.

While Europe's AI champion Mistral's chatbot has been

lagging in some advanced features offered by bigger American

rivals such as OpenAI and Google, the latest update brings it

closer to the options available in the market.

Among the new features accessible to anyone using Le Chat,

users can talk to Mistral's AI generative model instead of

typing through its "Voxtral" model.

It can also be used as a research assistant gathering

"credible sources" with a "Deep Research" mode. AI models have

all been struggling to sort fake news from authentic

information.

Valued at $6.2 billion by venture capitalists and feted by

French President Emmanuel Macron, Mistral gained global exposure

at an international AI gathering in Paris in February.

Mistral - which formed partnerships with several top French

companies such as TotalEnergies, CMA CGM or Orange - is intent

on developing its corporate clientele and implementing its

models on-premises.

(Reporting by Florence Loeve

Editing by Ros Russell)