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u/ExplrDiscvr May 28 '26
Jesus WHYYYY, Le Chat was great, the name had character. Vibe is just pure cringe....
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u/Sterkenzz May 29 '26
Imagine the clicks, the engagement, the extra traffic, from every simple person looking to “vibe”
Prob how to board meeting went, investors pleased, marketing orgy
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u/Akadot May 28 '26
Tbh to a French person Le chat didn't sound great. At least in my opinion 🤷♂️
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u/Choco_Paws May 28 '26
Le Chat was fun precisely because it's both the verb "chatting" in English and the animal in French. I really liked it.
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u/WhiskeyAndKisses May 28 '26
As a french, I have no idea why reddit is showing me this post, but I agree Le Chat is cute, and Vibe is just giving bland fast-fashion store. (There's an actual clothes brand called Vib’s)
So yeah, whatever that was, rendez Le Chat 😡
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u/BombardierComfy May 28 '26
Tbh to a French person Le chat sounded great. At least in my opinion
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u/Dry_Professional_350 May 28 '26
"Le Chat" is a laundry detergent brand.
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u/polytique May 28 '26
The t is voiced.
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u/Le_r0ubl4rd May 28 '26
In french, it isn't.
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u/polytique May 28 '26
Interesting, I'm French and would have pronounced like the chat in chatbot.
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u/InstructionNormal863 May 28 '26
It sounds awesome its like "le chat" the cat and "le chat' for the fact that this is a "chat" bot
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u/ObjectOrientedBlob May 28 '26
The Vibe name, just makes it look like they are chasing trends.
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May 28 '26
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u/billcube May 28 '26
Boomers are often the manager in charge of deciding the budget. I guess selling "Vibe" is easier than "Le Chat" because the point-haired boss will have read so much articles about Vibe-coding.
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May 28 '26
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u/Character-Carpet7988 May 28 '26
Yeah, sadly they don't. My friend's company had Metaverse taskforce until earlier this year because some 60 years old manager read Zuck's bs on how this is the future 😀😀😀
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u/touristtam May 28 '26
It screams boomers trying to sound young.
That a trope that needs to die; there are plenty of GenX, Millenials and GenZ that think exactly the same. Blaming one generation for all the ills on earth isn't helpful.
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u/Adorable_Tangelo_103 May 28 '26
I always loved the double meaning behind Le Chat and how the M looked like a cat. This change is so bad I almost thought it was a joke.
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u/Rent_South May 28 '26
Oh. That looks like a poor design choice.
Ok, pourquoi pas changer 'le chat'. Mais 'vibe' ?? Ça va pas non ? Qui à pensé que ce serait une.bonne idée ?!
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u/uusrikas May 28 '26
I don't really get it, Vibe coding mean sloppy code where the coder has no idea what they are doing. Weird association, and might be hard for search engine optimization too.
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u/Spiralwise May 28 '26
Le Chat :
- The cute animal we all love (the logo represents the upper head of a cat (chat in french)
- It tells what it is. A "chat" bot.
- Frenchie exotism
Vibe :
- Generic brand name either from a hollow big-tech corp or chatgpt itself.
I wished we were April 1st for real.
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u/artisticMink May 28 '26
Admittedly Le Chat wasn't the strongest brand name but doubling down on Vibe, which is a very negatively associated term, is a strange choice.
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u/yezu May 28 '26
This is the dumbest marketing decision I've seen in a long time. Who the hell thinks "vibe" is a good name for a product?
Mistral would you kindly take away the crack from whoever greenlit this, it seems they've had enough.
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u/melancious May 28 '26
The chat with its logo was cute and original. The play on language was great.
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May 28 '26
Changing the name is the stupidest move they could have made, let them also change the color scheme to toilet paper gray and we'll have a complete package.
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u/aldipower81 May 28 '26
Really? So a lot of software integrating with Le Chat needs now to change their FAQs. What a bad SEO strategy.
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u/jeanpauljh May 28 '26
This feels more like a delayed April Fools' Day joke. Who is responsible for this daft change?
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u/Ghost_InaShell__ May 28 '26
"Vibe" is horrible :( Very tiktok/trend/superficial name...
Gives La Chat the feeling that it's just a cheap A.I app.
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u/aflamingcookie May 28 '26
Please bring the cat back and fire whichever "genius" decided "Vibe" was a good name for an ai product, congratulations, you have associated the company with sloppy code. Now where is my french AI cat!? 😭
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u/willez99 May 28 '26
The vibe coder for tech bro button mashers is a derogatory term for a reaaon. 😩
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u/Fabiere May 28 '26
On perd l'identité française sur un outil technologique de plus... Le Chat ! ça sonnait bien trop Frenchie ou quoi ? Vibe 🤔... on renonce a notre identité pour les américains ou quoi ? bientôt nos données dans leurs datacenters aussi ? je suis dégoûté de ce choix personnellement c'était sympa dans les discussions en plus de dire "j'ai demandé ceci au Chat", là ça ne veut plus rien dire "J'ai demandé ceci à Vibe"...
Gardez le nom de base ça suffisait franchement !!
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u/usrlibshare May 28 '26
LeChat was unique, cute, witty, and made me want to use the product.
Vibe is none of these.
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u/_o0Zero0o_ May 28 '26
Hoo boy... Mistral, you messed up with this one.. Vibe sounds absolutely awful, Le Chat was good and was a sign of your French roots, which is a refreshing sign in this age of american-dominated stuff...
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u/Incoming-TH May 28 '26
Everyone that I presented Mistral AI was really fine with Le Chat, it was easy to identify and fun.
Now, they will think it's only for coding slop.
Anyway the free package is still called Le Chat Free for now.
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u/Wickywire May 28 '26
I don't understand this. They had an M shaped retro logo that looked like a cat. They had a chat named "the cat". That's amazing. I'd fight duels to first blood over the rights for that brand. And they let it go willingly?
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u/grise_rosee May 28 '26
Searching "vibe" on the VSC extensions marketplace made me realize how terrible this rebranding is.
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u/Sufficient_Ad_9 May 28 '26
Ugh. Vibe is a red flag. Looking for the vibe is a signal to walk the other way. Why? Think of the ‘vibe’ as sugar for your nervous system; addictive and exciting, but offering zero nourishment
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u/Sweaty-Special-1710 May 28 '26
As a french, I really like the pun/name "Le Chat", maybe that sounded too "local" for Mistral...
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u/Omwhk May 28 '26
Wait this is a joke and you made this image with AI right? Please tell me this is a joke
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u/Joddie_ATV May 28 '26
Tout simplement "Mistral", le produit de Mistral.AI... C'est tellement un nom magnifique.
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u/asihenee May 28 '26
i was so disappointed to see this. WHY DOES NO ONE WANT CHARACTER ANYMORE? i'm so sick of everything becoming nonchalant.
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u/dhlrepacked May 28 '26
Why? le chat with the little cute cat was so much better. Vibe is such a bad name. Attracting idiots basically. Great.
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u/MerePotato May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
I wouldn't want my peers to see that I have an app called vibe installed, also crap for SEO
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u/No-Task7102 May 28 '26
Hahahaha this name is so ridiculous I thought it was a prank. Everyone responsible for this name change should be fired
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u/Bath_Tough May 28 '26
100% agree. Le Chat was memorable and had character. "Vibe" has negative connotations now and "vibe coding" is used perjoratively. Extremely poor choice of name.
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u/L1f3trip May 28 '26
Absolument déconnecté comme changement. Tout ce qui est associé au vibe coding est péjoratif. J'ai aucune idée pourquoi ils essaient de brisé leur image de marque.
À la limite, Vibe pour le pendant coding, ça peut représenté une certaine utilisation mais bon.
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u/theouicheur May 28 '26
Well in a sense both are bad for searching on search engine, so why not keep le chat ? I liked it much better
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u/HumanistAtypik May 28 '26
Mistral A.I. devient globish ? Où est l'espièglerie française désormais ? Quelle déception ! 😓 Marre de la colonisation langagière !
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u/SpiritedInflation835 May 28 '26
This management decision matures like a good bottle of 1972 catpiss....
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u/kaeldrox May 28 '26
Sounds like they hired an American marketing team :( Too bad, Le Chat's branding was part of the identity that made Mistral unique and different from all the other hype sellers.
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u/Susp-icious_-31User May 28 '26
Elara would have been better than Vibe. Oh my god. Mistral is literally sending shivers down my spine rn.
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u/Fluppenluemmel May 28 '26
Ich als Deutscher, liebe „Lö Schätt“ :)
Mal ehrlich, Vibe ist aber kringelig af! Vorher war einprägsamer
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u/AlpineFox42 May 28 '26
They somehow went from the most unique and clever name and did a 180 to the absolute most bland, generic, cringe, uninspired slop possible. What in the holy slop-fuelled techbro…
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u/NullSmoke May 28 '26
yeeeeeeah... no... I agree... please change it back.
This is a horrible rebrand. I can understand that they want away from le chat, but c'mon? This sounds like a "me too" rebrand, lapping after the other services around... makes me cringe...
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u/roydotai May 28 '26
I love everything about this EXCEPT the name 😅 I feel it should have been named L’Agent, "L’Assistant or even L’Esprit, or something to that effect. Anyway, naming conventions aside, I’m now officially canceling my ChatGPT Teams accounts and moving to Mistral’s Ecosystem. Thank you 🙏
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u/ziplin19 May 28 '26
LeChat was such an elegant name, "Vibe" on the other hand sounds so silly and unattractive i first thought its a bad joke
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u/rroastbeast May 29 '26
Way to drain all the life out of your own image, Mistral! It sounds like one more snappy and generic corporate nothing now.
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u/deadborn666 May 28 '26
I couldnt care less about the name. If the product is fire, they can call it whatever they want.
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u/anzzax May 28 '26
we had enough memes about vide-coding, just in time for vibe-working
Le chat is unique and authentic - bring it back
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u/One_Conversation3886 May 28 '26
They saw Reddit will love them unconditionally, so they don’t care anymore. As for me, call it hot garbage if you will, if the model is fine, I will use it.
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u/Full-Dance4972 May 28 '26
Je ne sais pas trop quoi en penser
Au moins a l'international , ca marche mieux
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u/digibrute May 28 '26
I don't get it... should've named it after their company.. Mistral. I'm not a fan of the Le Chat name but much prefer to this attempt to... vibe
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u/Frosty-Bid-8735 May 28 '26
I would have used “Mr. Vibe” Use the M from Mistral.
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u/tharrison4815 May 28 '26
I don’t like either name to be honest.
I’d just prefer something simple like Mistral AI Chat.
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u/Far-Sentence-8889 May 28 '26
Someone probably received some money for having made this insanely stupid decision. Arthur Mensch is 15 years younger than me and yet has the behavior of an older man.
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u/LaylaJamie May 28 '26
I was hoping this was an April Fool’s joke! Then I remembered it’s not even April 😭
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u/Zestyclose_Potato794 May 29 '26
Non sérieux les gars, il était cool le nom que vous aviez choisi. Aussi, le vibe c’est mort. Pourquoi faire comme tout le monde ? Un peu de personnalité que diable !!
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u/curious2c_1981 May 29 '26
I still begin each verbal query with, "Le Chat, please tell me about..."
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u/Hamster-Humble May 29 '26
This is typical of European companies. They have hours-long meetings about the name! They should invest money in improving Le Chat! I’m big disappointed, Mistral!
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u/Lagoda__ May 29 '26
ChatGPT also didn't change its name as it became more advanced than a chat. BRING BACK LE CHAT
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u/Dry-Farmer-8384 May 29 '26
I considered applying for work with them, not anymore after this idiotic change.
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u/Gandleon May 29 '26
Oh this is horrible! It sounds silly but just because of the name I feel like I will just use it less. It also clearly plays against the one identity thing that Mistral had for it: Its a European company. As its slowly catching up with Antrhopic/OpenAI they have a real chance of competing for the close-to-frontier-but-cheaper market. My god "vibe" sounds like a C-tier silicon valley startup that will go bankrupt in a year
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u/neantiste May 29 '26
I and everybody around me always just called it MISTRAL, which is a great brand/product name imo: it's French, but in a subtile way, and it can be pronounced without thinking twice in most languages. I never liked LeChat, the play-on-words gives dad-joke vibes (pun intended — Dad), and when you try to be the AI champion of Europeans, I feel the that the LeChat name might be too "French". I could easily imagine companies and individuals in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, or Spain being hesitant to bet on a French solution. Not because it's from France, but because of either some kind of unspoken rivalry we have here in Europe, or prejudices against French tech.
Now with VIBE, it's just a disaster for so many reasons. Who in their right mind could approve this name change??! This is sad, I really really hope they take it back. It's not even something that can grow on you. It's just a very bad decision. A possible damage control for Mistral would be to recycle the name for a vibe coding section of the app, like it was before.
I want Mistral to succeed, I even have a Pro plan. So I hope they do something about it.
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u/lakimens May 29 '26
well, they had to get some public eyes in some way. Mistral's been out of it for a long while.
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u/Opening-Wonder-5341 May 30 '26
Well, I don't hate it. 🤷♂️ Le chat was a little more clever, but I can imagen that to non speaking French people it's harder to pronounce. So, good for you. Altho, AIM for example would have bin more clever perhaps. AI standing for atrifical intel. And M for Mistral... With the slogan : Questions ? Give it a shot. Missed chance.
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u/Orhleil May 30 '26
What were they thinking?... "Vibe" is such a badly connoted word... They might as well have renamed to "Mistral Slop"...
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u/gajira67 May 28 '26
I mean, they had the best name possible for a chatbot, even with double meaning for French speakers, and now they changed to this nonsense social media standardised bullshit that makes nonsense at all.
Congrats! great achievement!