André Martins, a professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC) and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DEI) at Técnico, is at the forefront of the development of the Large Language Model (LLM), which will support 24 European Union languages, including the Portuguese version AMÁLIA, as well as 11 additional languages deemed relevant.

André Martins, who is also the vice president of Unbabel in the field of Artificial Intelligence, is responsible for the link between the Unbabel, a company specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the Instituto Superior Técnico, and the Institute of Telecommunications (IT).

In an interview with Diário de Notícias, André Martins states that "the main goal is to develop language models that can be used for translation." The first major Portuguese language model was announced on November 11, during WebSummit.

LLMs are tools that use Artificial Intelligence to generate text in various formats, such as image, video, or written messages. Over the next 18 months, three versions of AMÁLIA will be released, with the first (beta version) expected to be launched by the end of Q1 2025, according to information published on the Republic of Portugal website.

Photograph: Institute of Telecommunications