Cohere's First Model for Developers

Cohere just unveiled North Mini Code, its first open model aimed at developers, promising a cheaper, faster coding helper that people can run more freely instead of being locked into one company’s system. The company is selling it as a big step toward “sovereign AI,” which in plain English means more control for developers and businesses who want their own tools on their own turf. It’s free to use under a very permissive license, and Cohere says it can punch above its weight while using less computing power.

But let’s be honest: the real show was in the replies. One camp was thrilled simply because more free, open tools are hitting the market. “More competition is better,” was the vibe, with some commenters sounding genuinely happy that Cohere is still trying to shake things up. Another commenter flat-out said they were “excited to see more OSS models,” basically cheering for the open-source soap opera to get another cast member.

Then came the knives. The sharpest jab accused the model of looking like “just qwen 3.6 coder,” a brutal way of saying, “Did you really build something new here?” Another commenter delivered pure drive-by snark with, “Our plan to being profitable is to give mediocre stuff for free,” which is the kind of line that gets screenshotted and passed around instantly. And maybe the iciest reaction of all? Someone confessed they “wasn’t aware that Cohere was still around,” turning a product launch into an accidental roast of the company’s relevance. So yes, Cohere launched a model — but the internet launched a comment-war.