AI update: Portuguese flavours (& something for the haters who want to be prepared)

Olá bom dia, alegria! Tudo bem?

Thanks to

for the reminder about Portugal’s pioneering open-source AI model for European Portuguese - AMALIA (of course!). AMALIA, in this instance, stands for Assistente Multimodal Automático de Linguagem com Inteligência Artificial and is the first large language model (LLM) specifically developed for European Portuguese.

This fully open-source project brings together around 60 researchers from institutions like NOVA FCT, Instituto Superior Técnico and others. Its goals include promoting linguistic accuracy in public administration and business, preserving cultural elements such as proverbs and national heritage, ensuring data sovereignty (keeping sensitive information within Portugal), and boosting national AI research and innovation.

Find out more here. (It’s still largely an academic/specialist tool rather than a simple “search box” resource.)

When thinking about Portugal’s AI efforts, I was reminded of a more everyday tool: Evaristo.ai - a Portuguese chatbot designed to help citizens navigate digital public services, among other things. It was developed by the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Sciences in partnership with ARTE. Try it here.

And finally, for the AI sceptics and haters (I used to be one!), here’s a reminder that it’s just a tool or a toy. It can be genuinely helpful, but also indulgent and tacky.

My own defensive use case is a diagnostic tool I created for www.vamosbem.pt. It helps with that overwhelming feeling we can get when thinking about the things we might prefer to avoid - “How ready are you for a medical emergency?” (Answer 10 quick questions and get a personal action plan for living and aging well in Portugal).

Try it for yourself HERE - bearing in mind it’s a beta prototype, not for commercial release.

(

@Kandy Hirsch

- could be good for the upcoming 'café' discussion?)

Oh, and on the data centres and environmental impact debate, I wrote this (“Are those concerned about data centres and their environmental impact also using YouTube to ‘listen’ to a podcast, which is forty to fifty times more carbon intensive than pure audio?”

It’s a bit of whatabouttery, but quite a shock too. We are a funny bunch, aren't we? 😅

BONUS QUIZ:

What is an ‘Evaristo’?

A know-it-all that originates from a Portuguese movie - O Pátio das Cantigas

A Portuguese chatbot

A renowned Algarve restaurant known for its excellent fish dishes

4 votes

6 comments

AI update: Portuguese flavours (& something for the haters who want to be prepared)