The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has just unveiled Falcon 2, its own generative AI model, which is expected to compete with the likes of OpenAI and Google. This development is a major leap toward the UAE's goal of becoming a major player in AI.
UAE Releases Falcon 2 Series Generative AI Models
A general view shows Abbu Dhabi's skyline across the Gulf waters in the Emirati capital on January 24, 2022. KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images
A general view shows Abbu Dhabi's skyline across the Gulf waters in the Emirati capital on January 24, 2022.
The Falcon 2 series, consisting of Falcon 2 11B and Falcon 2 11B VLM, was officially introduced by Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute (TII). Similar to OpenAI's GPT and Google's Gemini, these models promise breakthroughs in text and image processing.
Falcon 2 11B, a text-based model, and Falcon 2 11B VLM, a vision-to-language model, have been meticulously crafted to excel in their respective domains. With 11 billion parameters and trained on 5.5 trillion tokens, Falcon 2 11B boasts efficiency and accessibility, making it a formidable AI player.
The standout feature of Falcon 2 lies in its open-source nature. By making Falcon 2 accessible to developers worldwide, TII aims to foster collaboration and accelerate innovation in AI research and development.
Falcon 2's performance metrics are equally impressive. Tested against prominent AI models, Falcon 2 11B surpasses Meta's Llama 3 with 8 billion parameters and performs on par with Google's Gemma 7B.
The versatility of the Falcon 2 goes beyond its technical capabilities. Falcon 2, which includes multilingual support and vision-to-language capabilities, expands the scope of AI applications in various industries from healthcare and finance to education and law.
The institute aims to broaden the Falcon 2 series with advanced machine learning capabilities like 'Mixture of Experts', aimed at pushing performance to even more sophisticated levels.
OpenAI employees are leading efforts to protect whistleblowers who raise concerns about AI risks. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images
UAE's Focus on AI Development
The latest announcement demonstrates the UAE's strategic vision to diversify its economy beyond oil and position AI as a critical driver of future growth.
The UAE aims to bolster its AI ecosystem with plans for significant investment, potentially reaching $100 billion.
Despite ambitious initiatives, the UAE and Saudi Arabia rely heavily on imported engineering expertise and are just starting to integrate generative AI tools into businesses.
The unveiling of Falcon 2 comes at intense competition in the AI space, with companies and countries vying to develop their large language models following the success of OpenAI's ChatGPT. TII's Falcon garnered 12 million downloads, while Meta's Llama model received 170 million.
Last month, Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with G42, a prominent AI company in the UAE, to advance AI solutions across various industries and markets in the Middle East.
