Switzerland has announced the launch of Apertus, a new open-source large language model (LLM). Developed as a collaborative effort between ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), Apertus is positioned as one of Europe's largest open-source AI models.
The model is available in two sizes: an 8-billion-parameter version designed for individual use and a larger 70-billion-parameter version. The name "Apertus" is Latin for "open," which reflects the project's commitment to transparency. The model's architecture, training data, model weights, and intermediate checkpoints are all publicly available.
According to Imanol Schlag, the technical lead of the project, "Apertus is built for the public good. It stands among the few fully open LLMs at this scale and is the first of its kind to embody multilingualism, transparency, and compliance as foundational design principles.”
The launch of Apertus is a significant development in the open-source AI landscape, offering a powerful new tool for researchers and developers and signaling a growing commitment to open and transparent AI development in Europe.