The Landscape of Arabic Large Language Models

Membership in ACM includes a subscription to Communications of the ACM (CACM), the computing industry's most trusted source for staying connected to the world of advanced computing. The emergence of ChatGPT marked a transformative milestone for artificial intelligence (AI), showcasing the remarkable potential of large language models (LLMs) to generate human-like text. This wave of innovation has revolutionized how we interact with technology, seamlessly integrating LLMs into everyday tasks such as vacation planning, email drafting, and content creation. While English-speaking users have significantly benefited from these advancements, the Arabic world faces distinct challenges in developing Arabic-specific LLMs. Arabic, one of the languages spoken most widely around the world, serves more than 422 million native speakers in 27 countries and is deeply rooted in a rich linguistic and cultural heritage. Developing Arabic LLMs (ALLMs) presents an unparalleled opportunity to bridge technological gaps and empower communities. The journey of ALLMs has been both fascinating and complex, evolving from rudimentary text-processing systems to sophisticated AI-driven models. This article explores the trajectory of ALLMs, from their inception to the present day, highlighting the efforts to evaluate these models through benchmarks and public leaderboards.