Swiss start-up AlpineAI has announced the launch of Switzerland’s homegrown AI text generator: SwissGPT. The company aims to rival Chinese and American AI firms, particularly the US-based OpenAI and their ChatGPT generative AI tool. 

Switzerland to rival US, China on AI front

The Swiss version of the ChatGPT chatbot has been jointly created by experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence from several Swiss universities. AI researchers from the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) and Lausanne (EPFL) are taking on the challenge and wish to throw a Swiss hat in the ring, going up against established AI firms from other countries. 

The project aims to process data using large language models and develop new solutions using algorithms, the project’s leaders announced at a press conference at the airport in Zurich. The Chief Scientist at SwissGPT told the press conference that the new tool should be able to be used to complete a number of diverse tasks, from creating AI-supported email responses to contributing to scientific research. 

Generative Artificial Intelligence takes off across the globe

In the past years, there has been a boom in AI's popularity, especially following the release of a number of highly popular tools in 2022 and 2023 such as ChatGPT, GPT4, Midjourney and DALL-E 2. The tools use training data to learn patterns and structures in the information, and then generate new data with similar characteristics. 

So far, the uses of generative AI have not yet been fully explored, but the tools have been used in many fields - from medical research to the fashion industry. Many existing technology companies have integrated the tools into their products in order to enhance their user's experience, such as automating discussions with customers or helping with writing suggestions. 

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