11 Dec 2024
Kazakh Language Gets its National LLM with a Groundbreaking Partnership of Kazakh Research Institutions and VEON's QazCode Dubai, Amsterdam and Astana, 11 December 2024: VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital operator, is pleased to note the launch of an open-source Kazakh-language large language model (Kaz-LLM), developed by a consortium coordinated by the Ministry of Digital, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The development of Kaz-LLM was led by the Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence at the Nazarbayev University (ISSAI NU) of Kazakhstan, in partnership with VEON's QazCode, Beeline Kazakhstan and the Astana Hub.
With over 150 billion tokens collected, curated, synthesized and translated, the Kaz-LLM is capable of interacting in Kazakh language as well as in Turkish, English and Russian. With an 8 billion and a 70 billion parameter versions, the Kaz-LLM, developed in Kazakhstan, will help accelerate the creation and adoption of AI-powered products and services in the country. The model has been published on the Hugging Face platform for developers, ahead of its full launch.
The initiative, in which VEON's QazCode is the only private sector partner, aligns closely with VEON's mission to provide speakers of low-resource languages with augmented intelligence tools to enhance their daily lives, starting with Kazakhstan, VEON's most advanced market in terms of augmented intelligence capabilities.
The launch of the open-source Kaz-LLM represents a pivotal step forward in the development of Kazakhstan's AI ecosystem. This initiative reflects our unwavering commitment to fostering innovation and advancing scientific endeavors that drive technological progress. I am confident that this groundbreaking model will help bridge the digital divide, bringing accessible and inclusive digital services to every Kazakhstani, regardless of their native language, said Zhaslan Madiyev, Minister of Digital, Innovations & Aerospace of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
AI, augmented Intelligence, has immense potential to amplify and augment human skills and capabilities; empowering doctors to deliver better care, teachers to inspire deeper learning, farmers to optimize yields, and students to excel. Yet, AI has a bias towards high-resource languages with greater digital representation. Operating in markets where national languages are not rich in digital research libraries, VEON is uniquely positioned to bridge this linguistic gap, ensuring that the half a billion people in our markets enjoy equal opportunities in the digital age. I warmly congratulate the Republic of Kazakhstan on the launch of Kaz-LLM. It is a privilege to have contributed to this landmark achievement through Beeline Kazakhstan and QazCode. We look forward to sharing these learnings globally and advancing inclusivity in AI, said Kaan Terzioglu, CEO of VEON Group.
We are delighted have partnered with Kazakhstan's leading research institutions for the development of Kaz-LLM. Our data science professionals and developers have brought in all the experience of Beeline Kazakhstan and QazCode in developing AI-based products into this joint national project. This major undertaking will benefit the entire digital ecosystem of Kazakhstan, ensuring that the country is among the leaders of augmented intelligence. It will also be a first for us at VEON Group, in line with our focus on addressing the AI language gap for the benefit of billions of speakers of low-resource languages, said Alexey Sharavar, CEO of QazCode.
Beeline Kazakhstan and QazCode have already launched several AI products developed in-house, including the open-source LLM Kaz-RoBERTA-conversational model, which was the first Kazakh-language AI model with 2 billion parameters. Kaz-RoBERTA-conversational is currently used for customer service interactions on Beeline Kazakhstan's digital platforms and is an open-source model that has been downloaded over three thousand times on the Hugging Face platform.
Beeline Kazakhstan and QazCode are also actively involved in contributing to international know-how on LLM development for low-resource languages. QazCode cooperates with the GSMA Foundry and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, which has developed an LLM for the Catalan language, for sharing of expertise on LLM development.
About ISSAI
Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence (ISSAI) was founded in September 2019 to serve as the driver of research and innovation in the digital sphere of Kazakhstan with the focus on AI research. ISSAI provides an agile framework for research, innovation and collaboration with national and international partners in education, industry and government and contributes to the digital ecosystem of Kazakhstan in the advancement of national development goals.
About Beeline Kazakhstan and QazCode
Beeline Kazakhstan serves 11 million customers with mobile connectivity and two million with fixed internet services. Since 2018, the company has been executing its digital operator strategy. Over the past five years, leveraging its expertise in digital solution development, Beeline has created an ecosystem of 60 internal and external products, and serves a total monthly active user base of 11.6 million with its digital products as of June 2024. Beeline Kazakhstan is majority-owned by VEON.
QazCode, the software development company of Beeline Kazakhstan, is one of the largest companies in Kazakhstan with a team of 700 people including 350 developers. QazCode creates solutions such as telecoms process automation, gamification, entertainment and IT productivity using an artificial intelligence approach.
About VEON
VEON is a Nasdaq-listed digital operator that provides converged connectivity and digital services to nearly 160 million customers. Operatin
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Deepens Partnership with Taiwan's 62nd Golden Hors...
25/11/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, an investigative journalist from Kenya is the winner of the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2025.
The 26-year-old-sele...
25/11/2025
SVG All-Stars: Blayke Scheer, Senior Director, Creative Content, YES NetworkThe Indiana alum has turned storytelling into an artform for more than two decadesBy...
25/11/2025
Op-Ed: With FCC's C-Band Auction on the Horizon, Broadcasters Need Proven, C...
25/11/2025
Analysis: Is Baller League really the future of sport? By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 10:10
Print This Story
With KSI on...
11 Dec 2024
