UAE's K2 Think AI model takes on OpenAI's ChatGPT
The UAE just dropped K2 Think, an ambitious new AI model from Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.
Built in partnership with local tech giant G42, which is backed by Microsoft, K2 Think is designed to compete with big names like OpenAI and China's DeepSeek—even though it has way fewer parameters (32 billion vs. DeepSeek's 671 billion).
Still, researchers say it scores competitively across key benchmarks.
UAE aims to boost its tech credentials with K2 Think
K2 Think is based on Alibaba's open-source Qwen 2.5 and uses some smart training tricks to boost its reasoning skills.
Hector Liu from MBZUAI says they're planning continuous upgrades rather than a one-and-done release.
This launch is also part of the UAE's bigger plan to grow beyond oil and become a serious force in global tech—even as international partnerships like Microsoft's get extra scrutiny these days.