Federal Government Launches First AI Tool

Federal Government has launched the country’s first multi-lingual large language model in a move to advance its course in artificial intelligence.

The Communications Minister, Bosun Tijani, made this disclosure on X (formerly Twitter).

The Multilingual Large Language Model is a sophisticated artificial intelligence system capable of comprehending, processing, and generating text in multiple languages.

The launch of the LLM was part of the activities of a 4-day AI workshop held in Abuja, which brought together over 120 AI experts to co-create and accelerate AI development in Nigeria.

According to the minister, the LLM would be trained in five low-resource languages and accented English, ensuring stronger language representation in existing 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 was 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.