In a groundbreaking development, computer scientist and renowned author Kai Fu-Lee has taken the AI community by storm with the release of his open-source marvel, Yi-34B. This remarkable model has outperformed some of the industry’s best AI models, including Llama 2’s 70 billion-parameter model and GPT-3.5, in specific benchmarks. What sets Yi-34B apart is its exceptional bilingual proficiency in English and Chinese, all while being considerably smaller than its competitors. This innovation marks a pivotal step towards democratizing advanced AI technology, making it more accessible to a broader audience.
Lee’s journey to this revolutionary achievement started with his departure from a prominent position at Google China, leading him to launch his very own AI startup, 01.AI, earlier this year. The company has rapidly garnered attention, securing an impressive valuation of $1 billion in a recent funding round. Notable participants in this funding included Alibaba Cloud, Sinovation Ventures, as well as undisclosed investors. It was in an interview with Bloomberg that Lee unveiled the staggering success of the Yi-34B model, underscoring its top ranking on a list of pre-trained Large Language Models (LLMs) developed by the AI platform Hugging Face. This accomplishment underscores the exceptional global performance of Yi-34B.
Lee aptly remarked, “I think necessity is the mother of innovation, and there’s clearly a huge necessity in China. Unlike the rest of the world, China doesn’t have access to OpenAI and Google because those two companies did not make their products available in China, so I think many doing LLM are trying to do their part in creating a solution for a market that really needs this.”
The release of this open-source model reflects Lee’s unwavering commitment to democratizing AI and ensuring its accessibility to a wider audience. With Yi-34B’s resounding success as a foundation, there is tremendous anticipation for the future developments that 01.AI will bring to the AI landscape.
In addition to his role at 01.AI, Kai Fu-Lee serves as the chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, a prominent venture capital firm managing assets worth $3 billion. His enduring contributions to the field of artificial intelligence continue to shape the industry, and his latest offering is poised to have a significant impact on the advancement of AI technology worldwide.
