Switzerland has officially introduced its own national AI language model, Apertus LLM. Developed by leading universities in the country, the main goal is to provide a transparent and inclusive alternative to ChatGPT and Llama.

The power of Apertus LLM is compared to Meta's Llama 3, although the Swiss emphasize that they are not trying to compete with American or Chinese giants that invest billions annually in newer models. Instead, the focus is on code openness and security—users can download the model to their own servers, maintaining control over their data.

The model has already been dubbed a "new chapter" in the history of open LLMs. Unlike many competitors, Apertus provides all technical details, including the "recipe" for training, which aims to enhance trust and reduce the risks of bias or "hallucinations."

Apertus is expected to be used in scientific research, medicine, education, and even finance, where confidentiality and compliance with European standards are particularly crucial. The Swiss Bankers Association believes that having a national LLM has "great long-term potential," despite banks like UBS already collaborating with OpenAI and Microsoft.

Despite skepticism from the business sector, the project has received support from the government and the scientific community as a strategic move to maintain digital sovereignty.