Mistral 7B Beats Llama 2 13B on All Benchmarks
Tags: news, ai, machinelearning, beginners
Published: 2023-09-28 02:10:23

The dawn of a new era in the artificial intelligence space is upon us, and leading the charge is the groundbreaking **[Mistral 7B](https://mistral.ai/news/announcing-mistral-7b/)**. Launched by **[Mistral AI](https://mistral.ai/)**, a promising Paris-based  startup, this model stands as a testament to technological innovation, challenging some of the best in the business.

Mistral 7B is available for free on Hugging Face.

- **[Download Mistral 7B](https://huggingface.co/mistralai/Mistral-7B-v0.1)**
- **[Download Mistral 7B Instruct](https://huggingface.co/mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.1)**

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## Setting the Scene: The Emergence of Mistral AI
Before we deep dive into the intricacies of Mistral 7B, it's vital to acquaint ourselves with the brains behind this innovation.

Founded by former stalwarts from tech giants like Google’s DeepMind and Meta, Mistral AI is not just another name in the AI space.

In merely six months, it has garnered attention with its striking Word Art logo and a staggering $118 million seed round - a record for European startups. It's clear: Mistral AI is here to make an impact.

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## Introducing Mistral 7B: Small in Size, Mighty in Performance
Mistral 7B has 7.3 billion parameters.

Now, for those new to the language model realm, parameters are akin to the model's brain cells. The more you have, the smarter your model usually is.

However, Mistral 7B isn’t just about big numbers; it's about efficient performance. It's touted as the most potent language model for its size to date, offering capabilities in English tasks and natural coding, a unique blend that caters to diverse enterprise needs.

Mistral AI's commitment to the broader AI community is evident. By [open-sourcing Mistral 7B](https://huggingface.co/mistralai/Mistral-7B-v0.1) under the Apache 2.0 license, they’ve ensured its accessibility to everyone, from local enthusiasts to large enterprises.

## The Llama Rivalry: How Mistral 7B Stands Tall
Now, the AI space is no stranger to competition. Meta’s Llama series, particularly Llama 2 13B and Llama 1 34B, have been benchmarks in the field. So how does the new kid on the block, Mistral 7B, fare against them?

### Size Matters, but Efficiency Rules
Despite its smaller parameter count, Mistral 7B surpasses Llama 2 13B in all benchmarks. Its efficiency also sees it competing head-to-head with the more substantial Llama 1 34B on many fronts.

### Benchmark Breakdown
The real strength of Mistral 7B shines in the Massive Multitask Language Understanding (MMLU) test. Covering a broad spectrum of 57 subjects, from law to computer science, Mistral 7B boasts an impressive 60.1% accuracy. In comparison, Llama 2 7B and 13B lag behind, with accuracies around 44% and 55% respectively.

When it comes to commonsense reasoning and reading comprehension, Mistral 7B again takes the lead. However, it’s worth noting that Llama 2 13B does catch up in the world knowledge test.

### Code Completion Conundrum
On the coding front, while Mistral 7B claims superiority, it doesn’t quite outdo the finetuned CodeLlama 7B. The two are closely matched, with Mistral 7B trailing slightly in certain metrics.

## Behind Mistral 7B's Efficiency: Technical Insights
The brilliance of Mistral 7B doesn't just lie in its performance but also in the innovative methods propelling it.

By utilizing techniques like grouped-query attention (GQA) and Sliding Window Attention (SWA), Mistral 7B achieves faster inference. This not only enhances the model's speed but also allows it to handle longer sequences more cost-effectively.

Such innovations reduce the overall hardware requirements, making the model more economical to run without compromising on its output quality.

## What’s Next for Mistral AI?
Mistral 7B is just the beginning for Mistral AI. They are set on a trajectory to introduce more sophisticated models in the near future.

By 2024, we can expect larger models capable of better reasoning and multi-language support. This roadmap only reinforces Mistral AI’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve.

## Wrapping Up
The unveiling of Mistral 7B is a watershed moment in the world of AI. Its launch not only redefines efficiency standards but also sets the stage for a new era of competition.

With giants like Meta's Llama series already feeling the heat, the AI landscape is in for some exciting times ahead. As we keenly follow Mistral AI's journey, it's evident that their quest to "make AI useful" is off to a flying start.

**Disclaimer:** As always, while benchmark results are promising, real-world applications and results can vary. Always test and verify before implementing any new AI model in critical applications.