Switzerland enters into the global AI landscape
ETH Zurich, EPFL, and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre are releasing this late summer Europe’s answer to ChatGPT — but with a twist that could change everything: it’s 100% open-source.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭:
• Complete transparency: Model weights, source code, and training datasets will be fully open and reproducible. No black boxes.
• Apache 2.0 license: Free for everyone to use and adapt: businesses, researchers, governments, individuals. True public good AI.
• 1,000+ languages: Including underrepresented ones like Quechua and Romansh. This isn’t just another English-centric model.
• 100% Swiss hydropower: Trained on the “Alps” supercomputer with 10,000+ Nvidia Grace Hopper Superchips. Sustainable AI done right.
𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:
• 8B parameters for everyday accessibility
• 70B parameters competing with top proprietary systems
The Swiss AI Initiative involves 800+ researchers and represents something we rarely see: ethical AI development with strict adherence to Swiss privacy laws and EU AI Act provisions.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Can openness triumph over corporate ecosystems?
You can find more info about it here: https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2025/07/a-language-model-built-for-the-public-good.html
