Ubitus Selected for Japan's METI 'GENIAC' Program to Develop a 405B East Asian Language AI Model

Barchart · 10/15 02:58

Ubitus K.K. (hereafter Ubitus), a leading cloud streaming provider, was selected on October 10, 2024, for Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) GENIAC Program. This program aims to enhance "Post-5G Information and Communication System Infrastructure R&D Project / Post-5G Information and Communication System Development." Through this initiative, Ubitus will develop a 405B AI large language model (LLM) optimized for tourism and cultural content, which will be made open source.

This ambitious six-month project will harness 256 high-spec NVIDIA H100 GPUs for training. It will support three major East Asian languages—Chinese, Japanese, and Korean—focusing on advancing AI-driven solutions for the tourism industry.

Transforming Tourism with AI-Powered Solutions

With the steady rise in foreign visitors and workers in Japan, the Japanese government launched the "Generative AI Accelerator Challenge (GENIAC)" in February 2024. Ubitus stood out in this open call with a plan to base its project on the Llama 3.1 405B LLM. The project leverages 200 billion words in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean for pre-training and fine-tunes the model for tourism-related Q&A. By incorporating Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, the project aims to provide accurate multilingual travel information, including real-time recommendations, cultural insights, and translation services.

Ubitus collaborates with Deepreneur for data collection, focusing on Traditional Chinese and Korean data while Deepreneur handles Japanese data. To achieve commercialization, Ubitus integrates the model into services for local governments, transportation, and tourism-related applications. This integration aims to enhance the interaction experience between travelers and local communities.

Open-Source Initiative and Broader Applications

In a move to foster global AI innovation, Ubitus will make the 405B LLM available as open-source, inviting developers worldwide to explore new applications and solutions for multilingual communication. Offering a more cost-effective alternative to mainstream options like GPT-4o, Ubitus’s model aims to drive digital transformation across industries, including customer service, education, and healthcare, where localized language understanding is crucial.

"We are thrilled to receive this support from the Japanese government,” said Wesley Kuo, CEO of Ubitus. “This initiative underscores our commitment to leading the next wave of AI innovation in East Asia. By developing this advanced language model, we aim to revolutionize not only tourism but other sectors where language and cultural understanding are key.”

The grant marks a significant milestone for Ubitus, reinforcing its position as a leader in cloud technology and AI innovation.

Generative AI Accelerator Challenge (GENIAC) https://www.nedo.go.jp/news/press/AA5_101790.html

About Ubitus

Ubitus K.K. is a technology leader specializing in GPU virtualization, cloud solutions, and streaming platform. Our focus is on delivering exceptional cloud and AI services and values to customers. Leveraging the power of GPUs, Ubitus has developed a broad range of AI solutions, including UbiGPT (Taiwan LLM), Ubi Anchor (AI anchor), Ubi-chan (AI avatar), and UbiArt (image and video generation software). Ubitus is committed to delivering tailor-made solutions designed to meet the diverse requirements of customers in various industries. Ubitus’ cloud gaming solution enables users to enjoy AAA gaming experiences across devices. Through our comprehensive Game Development Kit (GDK) and game library, we offer a one -stop solution and rapid deployment, catering towards international clients that are interested in cloud gaming. For metaverse applications, Ubitus possesses extensive global cloud deployment resources to stream interactive media content for platform operators and digital content developers.