UAE's Ambitious Pursuit of AI Dominance: Falcon 2 Takes Flight

The UAE's launch of Falcon 2, a generative AI model, marks a significant step forward in its pursuit of AI dominance. With its multimodal capabilities and sovereign AI strategy, the UAE is well-positioned to become a global leader in AI.

UAE’s Ambitious Pursuit of AI Dominance

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken a significant step forward in its pursuit of artificial intelligence (AI) dominance with the launch of Falcon 2, a generative AI model that surpasses prominent AI models in some metrics. This development is part of the UAE’s ambitious plan to position itself as a global leader in AI by 2031.

Falcon 2: A Multimodal Model

Falcon 2 is an open-source generative AI model developed by the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the UAE Government’s research arm. The model comes in two versions: Falcon 11B, a large language model (LLM) trained on 5.5 trillion tokens with 11 billion parameters, and Falcon 2 11B VLM, a multimodal model that can convert visual inputs into textual outputs. This makes Falcon 2 11B VLM the only LLM model in the top tier market with this image-to-text conversion capability.

Falcon 2’s multimodal capabilities set it apart from other AI models.

Sovereign AI: A National Priority

The UAE’s seriousness in dominating the AI segment is evident in its formation of a separate Ministry of AI, which may be the first of its type globally. The country has also developed a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 to position itself as a global leader in AI by 2031. This strategy aims to develop an integrated system that employs AI in vital areas in the UAE.

The UAE’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 aims to make the country a global leader in AI.

A Growing Presence in AI

The UAE’s growing presence in AI is evident in its recent investments and partnerships. The country has set up a technology investment firm, MGX, to target deals in AI and semiconductor segments that could cross $100 billion in assets. Additionally, Microsoft has invested $1.5 billion in G42, a UAE-based AI tech holding company. This investment is significant, given Microsoft’s lead in AI through its investment of $13 billion in OpenAI, which disrupted the market by launching ChatGPT in November 2022.

Microsoft’s investment in G42 is a significant boost to the UAE’s AI ambitions.

Conclusion

The UAE’s launch of Falcon 2 is a significant step forward in its pursuit of AI dominance. With its multimodal capabilities and sovereign AI strategy, the UAE is well-positioned to become a global leader in AI. As the country continues to invest in AI, it is likely to have a significant impact on the global AI landscape.

Falcon 2 is a significant step forward in the UAE’s pursuit of AI dominance.