publive-image

UAE Unveils Disruptive AI Model Set to Redefine Tech Landscape

A government research institute in the United Arab Emirates released a new open model of GenAI on Monday, which could compete with big technology companies.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi said it is releasing the Falcon 2 series: the Falcon 2 11B, which is text-based, and the Falcon 2 11B VLM, a visual-language model capable of providing text descriptions of delivery pictures.

TII is a research center within the Advanced Technology Research Council of Abu Dhabi. The UAE, a major oil exporter and influential Middle Eastern powerhouse, is investing heavily in artificial intelligence. But that story also drew scrutiny from the US. officials who last year issued the final order on American or Chinese technology.

Emirates AI downloaded G42 Chinese hardware and acquired stakes in Chinese companies, before securing $1.5 billion in cash from Microsoft in collusion with Washington.

Faisal Al Bannai, secretary-general of the Advanced Technology Research Council who is also the President’s Adviser on Strategic Research and Advanced Technology, said the UAE is proving that it can play a key role in artificial intelligence.

The Falcon 2 series comes as companies and countries are racing to develop their large-scale language prototypes following the 2022 release of ChatGPT by OpenAI. Some have chosen to make their AI code proprietary, while others, such as the UAE’s Falcon and Meta’s Llama, have made their code publicly available for anyone to use.

Al Bannai said he was optimistic about the Falcon 2’s performance and that they were working on a “Falcon 3 generation”. “We are very proud that we can still box above our weight and compete with the best players in the world,” he said.

Conclusion: Taking its first flight in technological innovation, a new platform is set for a new era of unprecedented growth and discovery. In a world full of possibilities, the UAE AI model stands as a beacon of innovation and progress, poised to reshape the future of technology as we know it.