VEON’s QazCode and MeetKai Sign Agreement to Power National LLM Training and Local-Language Agentic Services Across VEON Markets

Core Insights - VEON Ltd. has entered a strategic cooperation agreement with MeetKai to develop next-generation large language models for local-language AI services across its operating markets [1][2][3] Group 1: Partnership Details - The partnership aims to create nationally governed AI capabilities that are culturally fluent and securely operated within each country's borders [2] - MeetKai's Sovereign AI platform will provide a customizable national AI stack, allowing countries to govern the training, hosting, and deployment of AI models [2][3] - The collaboration will enable VEON to offer AI digital services to over 150 million customers in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Pakistan, and Bangladesh [3] Group 2: AI Service Applications - The new AI services will span various sectors, including education, healthcare, agritech, public services, and enterprise productivity [3] - AI agents similar to QazCode's Aventa will be developed to operate across multiple languages and cater to local community needs [3][4] Group 3: Company Backgrounds - QazCode is recognized for its leadership in developing large language models for under-resourced languages and has previously launched the first Kazakh large language model, KazLLM [5] - MeetKai specializes in post-training optimization and local-language reasoning models, providing a platform for governments and enterprises to build sovereign AI ecosystems [6] - VEON serves nearly 150 million connectivity users and 140 million digital users across five countries, focusing on technology-driven services that promote economic growth [8]