Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence's (MBZUAI) Institute of Foundation Models (IFM) is breaking new ground in generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools by deploying "first-of-its-kind" specialised language and multimodal models.

The IFM was launched last year to bring together top AI scientists, engineers, and practitioners to develop large-scale, broad-utility, and efficient AI models with the capacity to be adapted to a wide range of downstream, sustainable applications.

MBZUAI is world-renowned for its expertise in this area following the success of the launch of Jais – the world's most advanced Arabic large language model (LLM) – with Core42 and Cerebras Systems, and Vicuna – a sustainable model in partnership with other universities.

The launch of the five new models—BiMediX, PALO, GLaMM, GeoChat, and MobiLLaMA—is an important milestone in the institute's journey and for the research community. They include small and large language models and large multimodal models (LMMs), which deploy multimodal learning to process and analyse data from multiple modalities or sources beyond text, including audio and images, with a special emphasis on Arabic language capabilities.

The five models are designed to make a real-world impact on healthcare, detailed visual reasoning, multilingual multimodal capabilities, multimodal reasoning for the geo-spatial domain, and efficient LLMs for mobile devices, respectively, and were each developed from extensive research by the university's faculty, researchers, and students.

"These models showcase the ability of the Institute of Foundational Models to transform cutting-edge research into applications that address novel use cases across society," MBZUAI's Acting Provost and Professor of Natural Language Processing, Professor Timothy Baldwin, said.

He added, "By going beyond the limitations of single-modality models and offering numerous applications across industries, multimodal models can be tailored to meet specific needs. This approach ensures that the university is fulfilling its vision to drive excellence in knowledge creation and transfer and AI deployment to foster economic growth, while positioning Abu Dhabi as a hub for the international AI community."

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