On May 13, 2024, the United Arab Emirates made a significant stride in the field of artificial intelligence by releasing a new open-source GenAI model. This development comes from Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a research center within the Advanced Technology Research Council. The newly launched Falcon 2 series includes Falcon 2 11B, a text-based model, and Falcon 2 11B VLM, a vision-to-language model capable of generating text descriptions from images.
The UAE, known for its substantial investments in AI, aims to position itself as a major player in the global AI landscape. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to diversify the nation’s economy beyond oil. The Falcon 2 series is expected to rival AI models from leading technology companies, showcasing the UAE’s commitment to innovation and technological advancement.
The release of Falcon 2 comes at a time when countries and companies are racing to develop their own large language models, following the groundbreaking release of ChatGPT by OpenAI in 2022. Unlike some proprietary AI models, the UAE’s Falcon series, along with Meta’s Llama, is publicly available for anyone to use, promoting transparency and collaboration in the AI community.
Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General of the Advanced Technology Research Council and adviser to the president on strategic research and advanced technology, expressed optimism about Falcon 2’s performance. He highlighted the UAE’s ability to compete with the best players globally, emphasizing the nation’s ambition to punch above its weight in the AI sector. Al Bannai also mentioned that work is already underway on the next generation of Falcon models, Falcon 3.
This announcement follows a significant investment from Microsoft, which provided $1.5 billion to Emirati AI firm G42. This investment was coordinated with Washington, leading G42 to divest stakes in Chinese companies and remove Chinese hardware. The move underscores the geopolitical dynamics influencing AI development and the UAE’s strategic positioning in the global tech arena.
In conclusion, the UAE’s release of the Falcon 2 series marks a pivotal moment in its AI journey. By making these models open-source, the UAE is fostering innovation and collaboration, reinforcing its status as a key player in the AI industry. The Falcon 2 series not only demonstrates the UAE’s technological capabilities but also its commitment to ethical and responsible AI development.
