The United Arab Emirates has launched its own sovereign open-source AI model, dubbed K2 Think, as it looks to build a homegrown alternative to the dominant US and Chinese models.

What happened: Abu Dhabi-based Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) released its latest model, K2 Think, on Tuesday, along with the complete disclosure of algorithms, data and other code used to build it.

Originally announced in September 2025, K2 Think is an open-source, 32-billion-parameter (32B) AI reasoning model developed by MBZUAI and the state AI company, G42. The model has been made for advanced problem-solving such as mathematics, scientific reasoning and coding. Its developers claim that its performance is comparable to that of much larger models at a fraction of the cost and size.

Why it matters: The global race for artificial intelligence is increasingly defined not just by performance but also by openness. While China and the United States remain the dominant AI powers, US companies have moved away from openly publishing the research and training details behind their most advanced models, citing competitive and safety concerns.