TII and LightOn have partnered to build the NOOR Platform for exascale computing, aimed at developing foundation models. The collaboration will leverage LightOn's expertise in large language models, with the first output being the largest Arabic language model to date. The platform will provide high-quality data pipelines and facilitate extreme-scale distributed training and serving. Why it matters: This partnership aims to establish Abu Dhabi as a center of AI excellence and boost the UAE's ambitions in high-tech innovation and NLP research.
Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with LightOn, has launched NOOR, a 10 billion parameter Arabic natural language processing (NLP) model. The model was trained on a large, high-quality cross-domain Arabic dataset including web data, books, poetry, news, and technical information. It enables applications in automated summarization, chatbots, and personalized marketing. Why it matters: NOOR represents a significant advancement in Arabic NLP, potentially enabling more sophisticated AI applications tailored to the Arabic language and regional needs.
Technology Innovation Institute (TII) will make its Falcon-H1 large language model available as an NVIDIA NIM microservice. Falcon-H1 features a hybrid Transformer–Mamba architecture supporting context windows of up to 256k tokens. The model's availability on NVIDIA NIM aims to provide enterprises with a plug-and-play asset for building AI systems. Why it matters: This integration will simplify deployment and scaling of Falcon-H1 for enterprises, potentially accelerating the adoption of sovereign AI solutions in the region.
The Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi has launched the Falcon Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing open-source generative AI models. TII is committing $300 million to fund open-source AI projects, beginning with its Falcon AI models. The foundation aims to foster collaboration among stakeholders, developers, academia, and industry to promote transparent governance and knowledge exchange in AI. Why it matters: This initiative signals the UAE's commitment to leading in AI development through open-source innovation and collaboration, potentially accelerating AI adoption and customization across various sectors.
The Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi has launched Falcon 40B, a 40-billion parameter large language model, as open source for research and commercial use. Falcon 40B was trained on one trillion tokens. TII is offering access to the model's weights and compute power for selected research proposals via VentureOne. Why it matters: This open-source release with commercial licensing disrupts LLM access in the region, fostering AI innovation and enabling diverse applications across sectors.