05-05-2025
The beta version of AMALIA, the first large language model (LLM) developed in European Portuguese, has now been completed. This milestone marks a new phase in the national artificial intelligence project, in which NOVA FCT plays a leading role through the research centre NOVA LINCS.
Unveiled during a session on Innovation and Digitalisation in Portugal, held at the Museum of Communications, the AMÁLIA project represents a strategic investment in the development of natural language technology centred on Portuguese language, culture, and knowledge. The event was attended by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and featured a presentation by João Magalhães, NOVA FCT researcher and project coordinator, who emphasised the model’s innovative nature and the importance of an ongoing process of improvement involving contributions from across society.
"It is still a beta version, with areas to refine. We are talking about development and innovation, and innovation is a process of continuous improvement," João Magalhães underlined.
For now, the beta version is only accessible to researchers within the consortium, and it already enables tasks such as text summarisation, idea generation, and natural language production in European Portuguese. The base version—offering greater reliability and security—is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2025. The final version is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2026 and will include capabilities to interpret various data formats and generate text with deep knowledge of Portuguese language, culture, science, and literature.
The consortium behind the project is funded by the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), with a total investment of €5.5 million, and involves five public higher education institutions: NOVA University Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Coimbra, University of Porto, and University of Minho, in collaboration with research centres such as INESC-ID, INESC TEC, IT, CISUC, ALGORITMI, as well as the University of Beira Interior and the University of Évora.
NOVA FCT, through NOVA LINCS and in partnership with IT/IST, is responsible for the scientific and technological coordination of the project, reinforcing its position at the forefront of digital innovation and the development of AI solutions in Portuguese.
With a collaborative and inclusive approach, the project is now entering a phase in which input from linguists, users, and public entities will be essential to further improve the model’s performance and reliability.
