Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 4: The Monlam Tibetan IT Research Center, a pioneering developer of Tibetan educational software, on Monday unveiled four major digital tools at the 2025 Monlam Manifestation ceremony held at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamshala. Among them, the newly upgraded “Monlam Think”, an updated version of Monlam Melong (Mirror), has drawn particular attention for surpassing global AI models in Tibetan language comprehension and analysis.
Since its initial launch last year, Monlam Melong has expanded dramatically, now drawing on roughly 24 billion tokens, which is about three times more input than before, covering a vast range of Tibetan history, literature, and grammar. Over the past year, the Mirror’s database has grown by 2.4 million new materials, marking a 30% increase in content and functionality.
The updated version can process up to 130,000 tokens, support 140 languages, and interpret both text and images. A newly introduced feature, “Monlam Think,” enables more sophisticated and deeper analysis, producing comprehensive responses in about 12 to 30 seconds, a stark improvement over the standard Monlam Melong mode, which focuses on faster, concise outputs.
According to the Center, Monlam Think underwent a rigorous testing phase, answering 1,500 questions on Tibetan history, literature, and grammar with an impressive accuracy rate of 73%. This performance outstripped major global AI systems, including Gemini Pro (72%), Claude (63%), Gemini Flash (62%), and DeepSeek (58%).
In another benchmark test, the updated Melong model scored 71% on the CBSE Class 12 Tibetan exam, outperforming Gemini Flash (56%), Gemini Pro (55%), and DeepSeek, which barely passed with a score of 35%.
Tenzin Gayche highlighted that this leap in performance represents a significant step toward developing an AI deeply rooted in Tibetan linguistic and cultural understanding. “Among all existing large language models, Monlam Think has become the expert on Tibetan,” he said.
In addition to Monlam Melong, three other digital products were unveiled at the ceremony. Lobsang Palden introduced Monlam Bodyig 4, featuring three newly designed Tibetan fonts—Monlam Lantsa, Monlam Tsukmakhyuk, and Monlam Uchen, along with improvements to the previous version. He noted that the Center plans to continue expanding its research on Tibetan script design and font standardization, an effort crucial to preserving both the aesthetic integrity and digital accessibility of the Tibetan written language.
Geshe Jamyang Tsultrim outlined the progress of the Monlam Grand Dictionary, which is structured around root words and encompasses about 15 linguistic and conceptual categories, including grammar, terminology, and explanations. The dictionary currently holds 399,300 root words, 625,792 entries, and approximately 67 million tokens, marking roughly one-third of its projected completion.
Tenzin Sherab presented advancements made to monlam.ai, the Center’s AI website, including new features for translation, speech-to-text, and optical character recognition (OCR). The platform has so far recorded 18,540 unique visitors and attracts an average of 20,000 users per month.
Geshe Lobsang Monlam, the visionary founder and CEO of the Monlam Tibetan IT Research Center, outlined the vision for the next decade, stating that the Center aims to rely on the power of Monlam AI from 2025 to 2035 to integrate Tibetan religion, culture, and modern knowledge into the world’s technological progression.
Geshe Monlam further emphasised the importance of adapting ancient knowledge for modern contexts, explaining that education should make ancient culture precise and meaningful in one’s own language and disseminate it globally while rendering the world’s modern knowledge accurately in Tibetan. He added that the Monlam team is researching ways to combine the refined intellectual capacities of Tibetan youth with digital and AI technologies to enhance human intelligence.
The event, marking the third Monlam Manifestation, showcased the latest advancements in Tibetan language technology and artificial intelligence, reflecting the center’s growing ambition to merge Tibetan religion, culture, and modern science through digital innovation. The organizers reiterated that Monlam’s technological initiatives are not solely about preservation but also innovation.
