Deutsche Telekom Launches Teuken-7B AI
German telecom operator is now spotlighting data sovereignty with its Deutsche Telekom AI model, Teuken-7B, to provide secure, localized intelligent solutions for European customer-base, wary of global providers like OpenAI and Google Gemini.
Deutsche Telekom AI campaign will create fair competition for major international providers and attract European customers, those who are hesitant to trust the data handling of some of the leading players in the AI sector.
“If not now, when does Europe need more sovereign solutions? Only through joint European efforts we can create competitive alternatives to major international providers. Teuken-7B from OpenGPT-X is a flagship project ‘Made in Germany’ and a crucial component in the digital strategies of customers who prioritize sovereignty,” said Dr. Ferri Abolhassan, CEO of T-Systems and DT board member.
The Real Value of Teuken-7B
Deutsche Telekom AI uses advanced Large Langue Models (LLMAs) developed by OpenGPT-X – open-source Gen-AI project supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
The LLM for Deutsche Telekom has 7 billion parameters, designed to support 24 official European Union (EU) languages. Moreover, Teuken-7B is available under the Apache 2.0 license, offering businesses the flexibility to adapt the model to their specific need.
According to Dr. Nicolas Flores-Herr, roject lead at German AI and big data specialist Fraunhofer IAIS, “Providing Teuken as an open-source model has multiple advantages. Companies can tailor the model to their needs, developing specialised applications. They can also choose to run the model locally on their infrastructure or with a trusted cloud provider of their choice.”
To ensure top security and compliance, DT’s subsidiary T-Systems will offer customers the option to run Deutsche Telekom generative AI application from ultra-secure, certified data centers in Germany.
The AI guidelines for Deutsche Telekom will be in line with strict European GDPR standards. This will benefit customers that are likely to run Teuken apps depending on their own infrastructure.
Deutsche Telekom’s main targets are regulated industries that must abide by strict security and compliance requirements. Deutsche Telekom AI can also be applied on customers’ own infrastructure, especially those seeking to manage their AI applications themselves.
Teuken-7B is included in the telco’s Business GPT offering, providing customers with the choice of LLMs that suit their work.
Deutsche Telekom uses AI to facilitate document summarization, power chatbots, and through a unified API, businesses become more encouraged to incorporate advanced AI into their customer services. Bare progress has been reported on Deutsche Telekom’s other AI initiative, such as the Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA).
The GTAA, announced six months ago, also included e&, Singtel, SK Telecom (SKT), and SoftBank, targeting co-development of multilingual AI models focused on telecom applications. But with DT now offering the Teuken-7B, there is increasing concern that GTAA initiative missed its target.
Final Thoughts
Deutsche Telekom is now redirecting its focus toward AI sovereignty, and for that reason, there will be a strong proposition for enterprises to keep AI models and data in their control to secure privacy and effectiveness.
Deutsche Telekom generative AI application will mitigate these risks by avoiding dependency on cloud services provided by leading tech companies.
The German telco approached said data privacy concerns and wants to give European businesses a trusted alternative, that not only aligns with regulatory requirements, but also extends operational control
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