Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has released K2 (Version 2), a formidable 70-billion-parameter open-source model designed to push the boundaries of advanced AI reasoning. The new model positions the UAE at the forefront of the global AI race, offering a transparent and powerful alternative to existing systems.
A New Contender in Open-Source AI
The 70B dense transformer model, developed by MBZUAI’s Institute of Foundation Models, enters the ring as a direct rival to other open-weight leaders in its class. It notably outperforms Qwen2.5-72B and shows performance approaching the much larger Qwen3-235B model, demonstrating significant efficiency and power.
Radical Transparency with a 360-Open Approach
MBZUAI is releasing K2 V2 with a commitment to full transparency. The university’s “360-open approach” provides the global AI community with complete access to weights, training code, data composition, mid-training checkpoints, and evaluation frameworks. This level of openness is designed to foster collaboration, allowing industry teams and researchers to examine, extend, and improve upon the model with full lifecycle documentation.
Engineered for Advanced Reasoning
K2 V2 was explicitly built for deep reasoning, long-context processing up to 512,000 tokens, and native tool use that goes beyond typical chatbot functions. Its unique three-phase training process includes pre-training for fluency, mid-training to infuse complex reasoning and long-context skills, and supervised fine-tuning for assistant capabilities. The mid-training phase alone utilized over 250 million unique mathematics problems and complex reasoning behaviors to hone its analytical skills.
Setting New Benchmarks
The model showcases impressive results across multiple industry benchmarks. It achieves 93.6% on GSM8K and 94.7% on the MATH dataset with structured reasoning prompts. On Berkeley’s Function Calling Leaderboard, K2-Medium scores 52.4 overall, surpassing models like Qwen2.5-72B and Llama-3.3-70B in function-calling tasks. MBZUAI also introduced three reasoning effort modes—low, medium, and high—allowing users to balance performance with computational cost.
Building on a Legacy of AI Innovation
The K2 V2 launch builds on the success of MBZUAI’s previous models, including K2-65B and the breakthrough 32-billion-parameter K2 Think. K2 Think proved that advanced reasoning does not require massive scale, outperforming models 20 times its size and leading open-source models in mathematics performance on several key benchmarks, establishing MBZUAI’s reputation for developing powerful and efficient AI systems.
About MBZUAI
Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is a graduate-level, research-based academic institution located in Abu Dhabi. It is the world’s first university solely dedicated to artificial intelligence, offering specialized programs for students and playing a leading role in the advancement of AI research, development, and innovation.
Source: Middle East AI News
