Europes linguistic diversity is getting a boost into theAIera with the creation of new LLMs for Nordic languages.
Fittingly named Viking, the model family is the brainchild of Finnish startupSilo AI.
The company claims to host Europes largest private AI lab and has pledged to protect the continents digital sovereignty.
Viking is the latest step of that mission.
The startup today releasedVikings first checkpoints.
Peter Sarlin, Silo AIs CEO and co-founder, wants the LLMs to bridge gaps in digital communication.
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All five Viking languages are low-resource, meaning they lack the linguistic data needed to train high-performing LLMs.
That threatens their future in the digital world and the physical world too.
Businesses would also lose access to potential markets.
And as AI spreads deeper into our lives, linguistic diversity and cultural heritage could disappear.
Silo AIs solution to this problem focuses onEurope.
Viking expands the repertoire.
According to the startups evaluations,Viking offers unparalleled proficiency in Nordic languages.
These capabilities enable almost endless applications, Sarlin said, fromcontent creation and translation to research and programming support.
Another target for the models is public sector services, such as education and healthcare.
In these use cases, linguistic accuracy and cultural sensitivity are crucial.
Poro and Viking can expand the benefits of these services to low-resource language speakers.
We enable European stakeholders to have sovereignty over how downstream applications and value creation occur, Sarlin said.
In the fiercely competitive AI world, Viking could also bolster Europes business landscape.
Silo AI plans to build on these ambitions byexpanding its model family.
Before this year ends, the startup plans to integrate every official EU language.
Update (14:00 CET, May 14, 2024):Updated to clarify that this wasa checkpoint release.
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Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
