European competition for Open AI: Light in the tech tunnel?

AI language models European competition for Open AI: Light in the tech tunnel?

2023-02-20 Source: Aleph Alpha 2 min Reading Time

The German AI startup Aleph Alpha recently published a performance comparison of its AI language model, Luminous. Confidently, the Heidelberg-based company speaks of the first European AI language model that can compete with American tech giants.

The AI language model Luminous, developed in Germany by Aleph Alpha, aims to meet the developments of Open AI and Meta AI on equal footing.(Image: freely licensed / Pixabay) — The AI language model Luminous, developed in Germany by Aleph Alpha, aims to meet the developments of Open AI and Meta AI on equal footing.
(Image: freely licensed / Pixabay)

The performance report officially released today, according to Aleph Alpha, suggests that German development does not need to hide in comparison with the models of Open AI and Meta AI. Unlike its prominent competitors, Luminous is, however, the first AI language model that is developed and hosted in Europe.

At the same time, it is said to be more efficient. It is more easily scalable and uses fewer resources. The scientific comparison included tasks for classification, evaluation, and creation of texts. Answering questions about specific text contents was also part of the analysis. In this regard, the model is supposed to be "a strong alternative" to the US developments, as Jonas Andrulis, founder and CEO of Aleph Alpha, emphasizes. Notably, Luminous has only about half as many parameters available as its competitors. Therefore, the German in-house development must make do with 70 billion parameters, while its overseas competitors could draw on 175 billion.

Model already in practical use

Since October 2022, a system named Lumi, a citizen assistant for the city of Heidelberg, has been tested with technology comparable to that of Chat GPT. The chatbot, based on Luminous, can answer individual, non-preprogrammed questions from citizens. This is intended to simplify communication with authorities – not least for people who struggle with language or orthography barriers. The bot's responses are always based on the data provided by the city. In this process, the transparency issue, which has been repeatedly criticized in Chat GPT, seems to have been taken into account. Thus, Lumi is supposed to cite the respective source in the authorities' data for each statement.

A successor model is already in the works as well. It is to be called Luminous-World and, based on a total of 300 billion parameters, will offer new possibilities for highly complex and critical applications. The current testing phase for this is expected to be completed within this year. What the model will be able to do specifically remains to be seen.

At the same time, the topics of traceability and explainability, so important for AI acceptance, are to be further developed. Only in this way can "a sustainable and ethical development be ensured, which corresponds to our values and requirements," emphasizes Andrulis. Overall, the project is "an important step towards Europe's technology sovereignty."

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