Jais (language model)

Jais is an open-source large language model launched in August 2023. Developed as a collaboration between Emirati AI company G42, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), and US-based Cerebras Systems, Jais was designed to produce high-quality Arabic text and was also trained on English data.^[1][2]

The model's creation was motivated by the underrepresentation of the Arabic language in the field of generative artificial intelligence. It aims to provide a more culturally and linguistically accurate model for the world's 400 million Arabic speakers.^[3] Its name is a reference to Jebel Jais, the highest mountain in the UAE.^[2]

Jais was developed in response to the limited availability of advanced generative artificial intelligence models for the Arabic language, despite it being spoken by over 400 million people.^[3] Existing models were often trained on limited or low-quality Arabic web content, resulting in poor performance.^[4] The project represents a significant investment by the United Arab Emirates in the field of AI as part of its national strategy.^[1]

The model was created through a partnership between Inception (now Core42), a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi-based AI company G42; the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI); and Cerebras Systems, a US company specializing in AI hardware.^[2][1] The model is named after Jebel Jais, the highest peak in the UAE.^[2]

The initial version of Jais released in August 2023 had 13 billion parameters. In November 2023, Core42 released Jais 30B, an improved version with 30 billion parameters.^[5] Both models were trained on a subset of the Cerebras Condor Galaxy 1 supercomputer.^[2][1]

The training dataset consisted of a mix of Arabic, English, and computer code.^[2][3] According to Timothy Baldwin, a professor of natural language processing at MBZUAI, training the model on a diverse Arabic dataset allows it to switch between dialects.^[3]

Jais is designed to generate text in both English and Arabic. The project has also released instruction-tuned "Chat" variants for both the 13B and 30B models, which are specifically optimized for conversational applications.^[5] Additional functionality for working with images, graphs, and tabular data is planned for future releases.^[3]

• Official website