Portugal Releases 9-Billion-Parameter Large Language Model AMÁLIA

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Portuguese large language model AMÁLIA was officially launched at the Técnico Innovation Center in Lisbon, and is now available to public administration, businesses, and citizens. The model, with 9 billion parameters, was developed by a Portuguese consortium involving over 80 researchers. Its initial use cases span education, museums, science, and media.

National Chief Technology Officer Manuel Dias emphasized at the launch that AMÁLIA was not designed to remain in the laboratory; the model is ready for use and has been integrated into existing services and portals. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro recalled that the project was initially led by Minister Margarida Balseiro Lopes and achieved its launch goal within 18 months.

In his closing remarks at the launch, Luis Montenegro acknowledged that the announcement of the project in 2024 had sparked controversy at the time, and he himself initially doubted whether he was being overly optimistic. He pledged to continue investing heavily in the project and expressed confidence in achieving the expected goals of competitiveness and capacity building.

Regarding the next steps, Manuel Dias stated that the future vision for AMÁLIA is to enable it to act and execute tasks. In addition to evolving toward an intelligent agent, plans also include equipping the model with greater capabilities and a broader context. Development for the next phase is already underway.