The UAE unveils its latest AI innovation to challenge the dominance of major tech corporations
The UAE launches Falcon 2, its new open-source GenAI model, in a bid to rival tech giants. Falcon 2 introduces two variants: Falcon 2 11B, tailored for text processing, and Falcon 2 11B VLM, specialized in generating image descriptions. On Monday, a government research institute in the United Arab Emirates unveiled a groundbreaking open-source GenAI model, potentially challenging those developed by major tech firms. Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) announced the release of the Falcon 2 series, comprising Falcon 2 11B, optimized for text tasks, and Falcon 2 11B VLM, designed to generate textual descriptions from images. Situated within Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council, TII spearheads cutting-edge research initiatives. The UAE, renowned for its oil exports and regional influence, is heavily investing in artificial intelligence. However, this initiative has attracted scrutiny from U.S. authorities, who issued a directive last year urging allegiance t...