Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) has launched its new AI company, AI71.
The entity builds on the Technology Innovation Institute’s (TII) Falcon generative AI models. It will focus on multi-domain specialisations while offering unprecedented AI data control options for companies and countries looking to self-host for greater privacy.
HH Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council launched the new AI powerhouse.
He emphasised that investing in artificial intelligence technologies and applications across key sectors will help create new markets with high growth potential and is vital to ensuring long-term sustainable development.
“Artificial intelligence is no longer limited to improving government performance but is finding significant uptake in research and development across key priority sectors, including healthcare, space sciences, renewable energy, transportation, and traffic control systems,” the Crown Prince said.
AI71
Through the development efforts of ATRC’s Technology Innovation Institute, various large language models such as Falcon 7B, 40B, and 180B were created. ATRC’s VentureOne subsidiary is poised to introduce AI71 to multiple sectors, starting with medical, educational, and legal domains, state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday.
AI71 will provide access to extensive repositories of anonymised data within these sectors, presenting a distinctive advantage over prevailing AI markets. This advantage is particularly notable in the UAE due to its advanced digital infrastructure and well-established e-systems,
Through partnerships and collaborations, AI71 will enable clients to deploy its AI models and benefit from access to sophisticated data reservoirs to ensure outstanding generative AI performance. More importantly, AI71 will promote decentralised data ownership, allowing clients to retain control of their data.
“Our Falcon generative AI models, at the heart of AI71, empower developers, companies, and countries and grant them autonomy to steer their data destiny,” said Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General of the Advanced Technology Research Council. “With access to the UAE’s centralised datasets, the deliberate commercialisation of our AI models across diverse sectors is a pivotal element in our AI71 roadmap.”
“While we explore this avenue, we also make a firm commitment to perpetually open-sourcing Falcon AI models because only by democratising these precious data resources do we truly benefit all of society,” he said.
Sectors in focus
The first of AI71’s specialisations will have a medical focus and seek to transform capabilities in diagnosis and decision-making, significantly changing the accuracy and time spent on each patient.
The educational and legal sectors also gain value from AI integration and enhancements – impacting each domain with nuanced benefits that lead to new solutions to support societal development.
AI71 is collaborating with seven partners across the ecosystem. These encompass the Department of Government Enablement – Abu Dhabi, which centralises over 30 government entities through digitisation; the Office of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications to support broader adoption; World Wide Technology to co-develop integrated on-premise AI solutions; CNTXT to provide data labeling and annotation services; Hub71 to attract and scale tech and AI startups; PwC Middle East to address customer use cases; and AWS to supply compute power capacity.
