The recent launch of ALIA by the Spanish Government has put our country on the artificial intelligence map. If you are self-employed or run an SME, here is everything you need to know about this model and how it can help you.

What is ALIA?

ALIA (Artificial Language Intelligence Assistant) is the first foundational artificial intelligence model in Spanish and co-official languages (Catalan, Galician, Valencian, and Basque). Designed as a public and open-source tool, its goal is to democratize access to AI and adapt to Spain's linguistic and cultural context.

Can ALIA be used already?

Yes! ALIA is already available. You can access the model and explore its capabilities from its official page: alia.gob.es.

Where is the model? Does it have a GitHub repository?

For now, ALIA is accessible through its official website, but it has not yet been confirmed if it has a public repository on GitHub. The project promises transparency and adaptability, so it is likely to be available on more platforms in the future.

The weights are on Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/BSC-LT/ALIA-40b

The repository with the scripts and data sources is supposed to be on GitHub, but either the link is wrong or it is still closed: https://github.com/langtech-bsc/alia

The Salamandra scripts are available: https://github.com/langtech-bsc/salamandra

Is there only one model? What are they like?

Yes and no. Let's take a look.

• ALIA-40b is the largest. 40 billion parameters. It is a foundational model. This means it does NOT respond to commands or instructions like ChatGPT; instead, it completes sentences or text. We could consider it medium-sized compared to the latest models from Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, etc.
• Salamandra-7b has 7 billion parameters. It is not new, but it is also trained by the same team. It is actually an SLM; in fact, a self-proclaimed SLM like Microsoft's Phi-4 has twice the parameters (14B).
• Salamandra-7b-instruct. It is the same size as the previous one, but this one behaves like a "small ChatGPT."
• Salamandra-2b. With 2 billion parameters, this is a very small model. It cannot be considered useful if used in a generalist way, but it is good if retrained for more specific tasks.
• Salamandra-2b-instruct. The version that has been over-trained to respond to instructions.

Is it a foundational model or a fine-tuning of an existing one?

ALIA is a foundational model developed from scratch, specifically designed to work in Spanish and co-official languages. This allows it to offer more precise and relevant responses in our language and in local contexts, differentiating it from models like ChatGPT, which are primarily trained in English.

Here is more information about the datasets used: https://langtech-bsc.gitbook.io/alia-kit/datasets/datos-y-herramientas-para-modelos-de-texto

How can I use ALIA now?

Go to alia.gob.es to:

• Integrate it into your business processes.
• Customize it according to your business needs thanks to its open-source design.
• Test its applications in tasks such as customer service, content generation, and administrative automation.

Furthermore, the Government is conducting pilot tests, such as a chatbot for the Tax Agency or medical applications to improve diagnoses, showcasing ALIA's potential in key sectors.

How does ALIA help self-employed individuals and SMEs?

1️⃣ Optimization of time and resources: From customer service to document creation, ALIA can automate routine tasks and free you up to focus on what's important.

2️⃣ Local adaptation: ALIA is trained in Spanish and co-official languages, making it perfect for businesses operating in regional contexts.

3️⃣ Economic access: As a public project, it promises to be more economically accessible than other proprietary AI solutions.

4️⃣ Customized automation: Companies can adapt ALIA to specific tasks, such as answering frequent queries or managing workflows.

5️⃣ Ethical and regulatory compliance: Designed under European Union regulations, ALIA guarantees transparency and security in its use.