Big language models are not just technology, they are national strategic assets.

- What are your thoughts on whyFPT initiated the establishment of the Au Lac AI Alliance?

There are five key elements for effective and sustainable AI development: data, algorithms and computing infrastructure, legal framework, and ethics. Going it alone presents significant challenges for businesses.

Mr. Vu Anh Tu, Chief Technology Officer of FPT.

FPT has come a long way, over 10 years, to build a comprehensive AI ecosystem, from research capabilities and collaborations with the most prestigious global AI research institutes and organizations such as Mila, Landing AI, and the National University of Singapore, to a diverse AI solutions ecosystem, a large workforce, and superior computing infrastructure – this has not been an easy journey.

Our AI research team in 2013 had fewer than 10 people, learning algorithms and training models to create the earliest products of artificial intelligence. And I believe that other businesses, like FPT, also faced similar challenges before creating their own strengths.

However, AI research and development is a long-term race. Each business and organization has its own strengths, but there are also gaps that need to be filled with knowledge and experience from the community. To go far, we must go together. That is why FPT Chairman Truong Gia Binh initiated the establishment of the Au Lac AI Alliance – a strategic initiative aimed at connecting Vietnamese intelligence, Vietnamese resources, and Vietnamese aspirations.

We were surprised and moved that in less than two weeks since sharing our desire to establish the Au Lac AI Alliance, more than 20 businesses, startups, and universities have responded and joined. This is an initial success for the Alliance. We believe the Alliance will quickly gain more new members.

- One of the key objectives of the Au Lac AI Alliance is to develop a large-scale language model for Vietnamese - Au Lac LLM. So, sir, why is a large-scale language model for Vietnamese necessary?

The AI race is changing. Governments around the world are prioritizing sovereign AI designed to align with a nation's interests, security priorities, and cultural values.

One of the first steps in developing sovereign AI capabilities is the construction of native large language models (LLMs). LLMs are not simply technology but have become a national strategic asset, similar to the Internet in the digital age. A native LLM not only reduces dependence on foreign LLMs but also addresses specific geographical, historical, cultural, and linguistic peculiarities.

Most of the well-known Local Leagues (LLMs) today originate from the United States. Other countries have also begun establishing their own local LLMs.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a powerful AI platform (Falcon) for processing modern Arabic and local dialects.

South Korea has an AI product specifically designed for Koreans (HyperCLOVA X), capable of deeply understanding the Korean language and culture.

India launches BharatGPT, which provides in-depth knowledge of Indian culture, from festivals and customs to regional language usage, and can be customized for specific industries.

Singapore is implementing the National Multimodal LLM Programme (NMLP), investing tens of millions of USD to provide high-performance computers to institutes/universities/businesses and develop multilingual LLM programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate for Southeast Asia (SEA-Lion).

Not investing in LLM means becoming completely dependent on foreign technology platforms, from data and algorithms to how AI intervenes in people's work, lives, and the information they access every day.

To maintain its economic and cultural sovereignty, Vietnam needs an AI Alliance (LLM) developed by Vietnamese people themselves. The Au Lac AI Alliance aims to develop the Au Lac LLM as a foundation for building AI applications capable of processing Vietnamese accurately, naturally, and in accordance with Vietnamese culture and identity, thereby raising the intellectual level of the population and promoting national economic development.

Artificial intelligence is one of FPT's core technologies.

- Before the Alliance was established, what difficulties did businesses face in developing Vietnamese-language LLMs? How will Au Lac LLM help address these challenges?

Developing a Large-Scale League (LLM) requires high-quality training data, robust computing infrastructure (GPU/TPU), advanced algorithms, a multidisciplinary team of experts, substantial funding, and rigorous testing processes. This is a challenging task for any country, business, or organization. Therefore, the Alliance was created to harness the strength of the business community, startups, and technology experts to collectively address these challenges.

- FPT is currently the leading company in the IT industry. Could you elaborate on FPT's role within this alliance?

Each member of the Alliance has its own strengths, and some units are already leaders in their respective fields. I hope the Alliance will work together to build an open and transparent AI community where individuals, organizations, and businesses can freely access and use the Alliance's public assets, including source code, data, and models, even for commercial purposes, in order to foster innovation, widely apply AI, and realize national AI sovereignty.

At the launch ceremony, the first members of the Alliance made very clear commitments. MobiFone stated its readiness to dedicate all available resources to contribute to the Alliance's success. MISA committed to contributing a team of experts specializing in data, particularly in the finance and accounting fields. BKAV shared its readiness to develop AGI – general artificial intelligence. Zalo affirmed its commitment to contributing its experience in successfully building a purely Vietnamese AI model, system architecture, and the VMLU Vietnamese language proficiency assessment system with over 10,000 questions.

Businesses are all willing to contribute to the development of large-scale language models (LLMs) capable of processing Vietnamese accurately, naturally, and in accordance with Vietnamese culture and identity, thereby improving public awareness and promoting national economic development.

With FPT, we are also committed to sharing core technologies and core models with the community completely free of charge. FPT will open up all core platforms and technologies, such as the LLM (Large Language Model) platform that FPT is currently using for the FPT.AI platform, so that all members of the Alliance can develop and use them together.

At the same time, FPT will open a joint laboratory to support small businesses, research institutes, schools, and startups, so they can access data, tools, and especially training programs. We will also propose groundbreaking institutional and legal policies such as a sandbox mechanism, allowing for AI testing in fields such as healthcare, education, and finance.

- As you shared, at the launch ceremony, the Alliance had over 20 initial members. What else will the Alliance need from the business community, research institutes, and universities to achieve its goal of building a Vietnamese-language Alliance for Vietnamese people?

On behalf of the Alliance, we cordially invite all businesses, research institutes, universities, and the technology community [AM7][HL8] to join the Alliance to jointly build the foundation of Vietnamese AI for a self-reliant, sustainable digital future with a distinct Vietnamese identity.

Investing in AI development is a long-term race, and members of the Alliance can contribute financially, in terms of infrastructure, data, intellectual property including algorithms, patents related to LLM, and human resources, based on their strengths. The Alliance is ready to welcome new members.

Ha An

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/mo-hinh-ngon-ngu-lon-khong-chi-la-cong-nghe-con-la-tai-san-chien-luoc-quoc-gia-ar950919.html