Grants over 30 million to develop Danish AI language model: Will be an open sandbox for researchers and experts

Denmark is taking a major step towards strengthening its position in artificial intelligence with an investment of DKK 30.7 million from the Ministry of Digitalization. The funds will support the development of Danish Foundation Models (DFM), an ambitious project involving the University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen and the Alexandra Institute.

The project will establish an advanced R&D platform for the development, training and maintenance of Danish-language AI models. Instead of competing with global tech giants like Google and OpenAI, DFM focuses on solutions that meet specific Danish needs in public administration, healthcare, education and business.

“DFM stems from a vision that community and inclusion must be the guiding principles for the development of Danish language technology. Our interactive sandbox will bring together researchers, developers and users to rapidly and flexibly prototype and collaborate to fine-tune solutions for a wide range of societal needs. By building on Danish cultural heritage and making culturally attuned adjustments to existing models, we want to create language technology that reflects and respects the complexity of Danish society – past and present,” says Kristoffer Nielbo, Professor at the Center for Humanities Computing at Aarhus University, in a press release.

A great collaboration across the board

The national approach prioritizes security, sustainability and equitable digital development. The platform will meet high standards of data integrity and secure use, which is crucial in critical sectors.

“Developing language models is a long haul. That’s no secret. We started the work many years ago, and with new funding we can move together with the necessary speed. As a GTS institute, it is exactly our role to bring research and business together. The funding is crucial for our good collaboration to continue because we can train, fine-tune and maintain base models in Danish. Ultimately, this means sustainable AI solutions based on applied research and real use cases for the benefit of Denmark.” Jens Kaas Benner, Head of the AI Lab at the Alexandra Institute.

DFM includes an innovative and open ‘sandbox’ where experts from different sectors can collaborate to adapt and fine-tune the models. This flexible environment makes it possible to create customized solutions and continuous improvements that address unique Danish challenges. The platform builds on existing supercomputing infrastructure and data sharing agreements, reducing costs and ensuring wide availability. The models will be made open source so that both public and private actors can benefit from them and contribute to further development.

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