Prime Highlight
- UAE’s MBZUAI develops K2 Think, an open-source AI model that matches the reasoning capabilities of top U.S. and Chinese systems.
- K2 Think demonstrates Abu Dhabi’s ambition to become a leading global hub for artificial intelligence.
Key Facts
- K2 Think has 32 billion parameters, yet rivals models with over 200 billionthrough advanced reasoning methods.
- The model is hosted by G42and runs on Cerebras chips, showcasing efficiency and technical innovation.
Background
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has introduced K2 Think, an effective open-source AI model that can reason as efficiently as state-of-the-art systems in the USA and China. Developed by researchers at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) in Abu Dhabi, K2 Think is available for free through G42, an Emirati tech group supported by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds.
K2 Think specializes in reasoning exercises and thus can provide answers to complex questions by modeling a process of thoughtful deliberation instead of simply producing swift answers. K2 Think has 32 billion parameters, which is far fewer than some competing models with more than 200 billion parameters, but provides strong performance in reasoning, matching leading models in OpenAI and DeepMind.
Eric Xing, MBZUAI’s president and lead AI researcher, described K2 Think as “a technical innovation or disruption.” The model applies various sophisticated methods, such as fine-tuning of long reasoning chains, agentic planning to divide problems into steps, and reinforcement learning to enhance precision. Its efficiency is boosted by running on Cerebras chips, rather than the more common Nvidia hardware.
Peng Xiao, CEO of G42, added that the success demonstrates that even small but properly designed models can outcompete systems that are much bigger. In the near future, the UAE intends to expand K2 Think to complete a large language model.
The project implies the growing participation of the UAE in the global AI contest. The UAE, along with other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, is investing heavily in AI research and its infrastructure within the Middle East. The K2 Think will facilitate the purpose of Abu Dhabi to become a major localization hub of AI in the world.
