The inaugural Open-Source AI Summit Abu Dhabi, hosted by Technology Innovative Institute (TII), has concluded in the emirate. The summit brought together leading global AI scientists and industry experts to discuss the future of open-source AI.
The summit, which took place at The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi, convened key international players from Meta, Google DeepMind, Oxford University, and Tsinghua University, as well as local voices including Inception Institute and TII, the developer of the globally ranked Falcon series of AI models.
Together they engaged on opportunities and challenges in open-source AI, AI accessibility and safety, ethics and governance, computing power and sustainability, international alliances, and other topics. The summit came amid increasing global dialogue on open-source AI following the Open-Source Initiative’s release of their open-source AI definition.
Dr Najwa Aaraj, CEO of Technology Innovation Institute, said: “The Open Source AI Summit Abu Dhabi represented a defining moment in shaping a future where AI is accessible and beneficial to everyone. By convening the brightest minds from global institutions, we fostered collaboration that transcends borders and drives innovation with equity and safety at its core. This is not just about advancing technology, but about ensuring its responsible and ethical deployment for the benefit of humanity.”
Dr Hakim Hacid, Chief Researcher at TII’s AI Cross-Center Unit, which has played a key role in developing Falcon LLMs, said: “At TII, we focus on the technical depth and innovation needed to create AI systems that are transparent, robust, and scalable. This summit allowed us to engage with global AI experts, ensuring that the future of AI is built on a foundation of collaboration, openness, and responsible development.”
TII was one of the first international players to open source a Large Language Model (LLM) with the release of Falcon 40B in May 2023. Falcon AI models have consistently ranked among the top open-source LLMs in the world, recognised by HuggingFace, the industry standard third-party leaderboard for LLMs.
