Aleph Alpha: What is behind the German AI start-up

November 7, 2023, 3:52 p.m. |
Reading time: 3 minutes

In the last few months, the number of various programs and tools with artificial intelligence (AI) has almost exploded. More and more companies are presenting their models. The German start-up Aleph Alpha also wants to get involved and has secured a financial injection of around 500 million euros.

AI tools are becoming more and more present and popular and the boom seems to continue unaffected by other developments. With Aleph Alpha, a German start-up is lurking and could represent a serious alternative to existing AI models such as ChatGPT and Co. The founder and CEO of the start-up is Jonas Andrulis. The company received a financial injection of around 23 million euros in 2021 – now significantly more investor money is flowing. Several well-known companies are among the donors. TECHBOOK explains what the company is all about and what its AI plans look like.

These companies invest in Aleph Alpha

The AI ​​boom continues. There are also some companies in this country that are jumping on the bandwagon. The most famous example currently is the Heidelberg start-up Aleph Alpha, which creates large language models with AI functions. Unlike ChatGPT, the focus is more on public administration and industry, i.e. business customers. In order to be able to further expand the AI ​​models, there was now a generous windfall of around half a billion euros. In one Press release from Aleph Alpha says: “A broad consortium of new and existing investors is participating in the Series B financing round of Germany’s leading developer of generative artificial intelligence (AI) […].” Investors include:

  • Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (IPAI)
  • Bosch
  • Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland etc.)
  • SAP
  • Christ & Company
  • Hewlett Packard
  • Burda Principal Investments

Other renowned or well-known companies had already joined. Nvidia and Intel, among others.

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Is Aleph Alpha the answer to OpenAI/ChatGPT?

As already mentioned, Aleph Alpha specializes in AI solutions for companies and authorities. The money now made available will primarily be used for research and further development purposes. According to Aleph Alpha, it will also be used to “further advance AI research and intensify the development and commercialization of generative AI for the most demanding and critical applications in privacy-sensitive industries such as healthcare, finance, law, administration and security.”

But now the question arises as to whether Aleph Alpha’s AI models can also represent serious competition to ChatGPT from the US company OpenAI. To be honest, it’s difficult to estimate. Aleph Alpha’s focus is on industrial and government applications, while ChatGPT works primarily as a voice and text-based AI chatbot for the general public.

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Where is the Aleph Alpha language model applied?

The city of Heidelberg can be used as an example of the application of Aleph Alpha AI. The citizen information system on the website is called “Lumi”, which is based on the “Luminous” language model from Aleph Alpha based. The AI ​​chatbot answers the questions of the residents of the city of Heidelberg.

Luminous and ChatGPT basically work the same way, but they differ in a few ways. While OpenAIs-AI is made for the masses, the German language model is more intended for authorities, administrations, companies, etc. This is another reason why a comparison is not particularly useful.

But it is still unclear whether the European, or rather German, alternative will establish itself as a chatbot AI for the masses in the future. However, it is conceivable that “Luminous” could represent serious competition to other AI, as the German language model has around half as many parameters as the competition and is therefore significantly more efficient.

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