- The Multilingual Large Language Model can understand, process, and generate text in many languages
The Federal Government introduced Nigeria’s first multilingual large language model to advance artificial intelligence.
Communications Minister Bosun Tijani revealed this on X (formerly Twitter).
The Multilingual Large Language Model can understand, process, and generate text in many languages.
This launch was part of a 4-day AI workshop in Abuja with 120+ experts aiming to boost AI development in Nigeria.
The model will be trained in five low-resource languages and accented English for better language representation in datasets.
“The LLM will be trained in five low-resource languages and accented English to ensure stronger language representation in existing datasets for the development of artificial intelligence solutions.
“The project will also be supported by over 7,000 fellows from the @3MTTNigeria programme,” the minister expounded.
He stated that the AI tool, developed in partnership with local and global tech companies, was poised to revolutionise AI solutions in Nigeria and beyond.
The minister also announced the relaunch of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in collaboration with Cisco, a renowned cybersecurity firm.
According to Tijani, this is the first of its kind in Africa, a special-purpose vehicle created to promote research and development on emerging technologies such as AI, robotics and the Internet of Things and their practical application in areas of Nigerian national interest.
The improved capacity at NCAIR would help it better fulfil its mandate as a digital innovation and research facility, he added.