The second development phase of Amália, the artificial intelligence model sponsored by the Portuguese State, was formalized this Tuesday with the allocation of an additional 1.8 million euros from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), retroactive to July 1st. This funding raises the total project cost to 7.3 million euros at the end of execution.
By the end of the year, the Government intends for Amália to continue being trained to enable new "agentification tools" and solutions that can be integrated into internal processes of the Public Administration. Training and refinement of the model for Image and Speech use cases is also planned. The Resolution of the Council of Ministers published in the Official Gazette establishes that the main objective is for Amália to cease being merely a prototype and become integrated into citizen services.
The decree also establishes a governance model involving structures such as the Agency for State Technological Reform (ARTE) and the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), which will be replaced by the newly created entity AI² following its merger with the National Innovation Agency. The mandate of the Specialized Monitoring Committee, currently chaired by Arlindo Oliveira, president of INESC, has been extended until December 31st, 2029.
One of the novelties of this phase is the Government's intention to initiate dialogue with media companies to ensure access to their most recent archives, in order to reinforce model training with Portuguese content. The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, stated that Portugal intends to set an example in the relationship between the national model and media companies.
