DT claims Germany is driving ‘open and trustworthy’ AI models

DT pushing ‘made in Germany’, Swisscom promotes ‘Swissness’, who’s next?

Deutsche Telekom (DT) claims Germany is driving the development of open and trustworthy AI language models. This is due to its role in the European Union’s project OpenGPT-X, which is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).

This initiative intends to enhance digital sovereignty and provide German authorities and institutions with “access to cutting-edge European generative AI (GenAI) technology”.

A consortium led by Fraunhofer Institutes IAIS and IIS, alongside partners such as TU Dresden, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), and Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Teuken-7B language model was developed and trained on the Jülich supercomputer JUWELS. Since November 26, the model has been available under an open-source licence. 

Apparently, DT has transitioned this European language model from research to commercialisation, becoming the first provider to offer Teuken-7B for commercial use. Authorities and businesses can access this open-source alternative to mainstream AI models, “marking a significant step toward Germany’s digital sovereignty”. 

“If not now, when does Europe need more sovereign solutions? Only through joint European efforts we can create competitive alternatives to major international providers. Teuken-7B from OpenGPT-X is a flagship project ‘Made in Germany’ and a crucial component in the digital strategies of customers who prioritize sovereignty,” said Dr Ferri Abolhassan, CEO of T-Systems and Member of the Board of DT.  

More info here.

Like clockwork…

At the end of November, Swisscom announced it has deployed what it claims is Switzerland’s first NVIDIA SuperPOD system. Enterprises can run AI applications in its data centres – essentially offering guaranteed data storage and processing in-country and some are experimenting already, with guaranteed “maximum Swissness”.