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Swiss AI Initiative (2023)

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Why This Matters

The Swiss AI Initiative marks a significant milestone in global AI research by establishing the largest open science and open source effort for AI foundation models. Backed by substantial investments and a collaborative network of over 800 researchers, it aims to advance trustworthy AI development and foster innovation across Switzerland and beyond. This initiative's open approach and cutting-edge infrastructure are poised to accelerate AI breakthroughs and democratize access to advanced AI tools for diverse stakeholders.

Key Takeaways

Swiss AI Initiative​

The Swiss AI Initiative was started in December 2023 and seeded with an initial investment of over 10m GPU hours on Alps (by CSCS) and a grant of 20m CHF by the ETH Domain. The initiative is the largest open science/open source effort for AI foundation models worldwide, and the first initiative of the Swiss National AI Institute, a partnership between the ETH AI Center and the EPFL AI Center. The initiative further benefits from the critical mass of expertise of over 800 researchers (including 70 AI-focused professors) from over 10 academic institutions across Switzerland.

The frontier AI research is enabled by one of the world’s leading AI supercomputer "Alps" (with over 10’000 GH200 GPUs) in collaboration with engineers at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS). Regular compute calls are available to bring together researchers from different organizations.The initiative provides artifacts such as transparent and open software, models, and data releases, enabling their trustworthy use by various Swiss stakeholders, including SMEs and start-ups.

For a full list of Swiss AI members, go to the Swiss AI Members page:

Swiss AI Members