This study introduces a novel framework for evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs) in Persian, a low-resource language. We develop comprehensive datasets to assess reasoning, linguistic understanding, and multimodal capabilities. Our datasets include Persian-OCR-QA for optical character recognition, Persian-VQA for visual question answering, Persian world-image puzzle for multimodal integration, Visual-Abstraction-Reasoning for abstract reasoning, and Iran-places for visual knowledge of Iranian figures and locations. We evaluate models like GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Llama 3.2 90B Vision, revealing their strengths and weaknesses in processing Persian. This research contributes to inclusive language processing by addressing the unique challenges of low-resource language evaluation.

As large language models (LLMs) become increasingly embedded in our daily lives, evaluating their quality and reliability across diverse contexts has become essential. While comprehensive benchmarks exist for assessing LLM performance in English, there remains a significant gap in evaluation resources for other languages. Moreover, because most LLMs are trained primarily on data rooted in European and American cultures, they often lack familiarity with non-Western cultural contexts. To address this limitation, our study focuses on the Persian language and Iranian culture. We introduce 19 new evaluation datasets specifically designed to assess LLMs on topics such as Iranian law, Persian grammar, Persian idioms, and university entrance exams. Using these datasets, we benchmarked 41 prominent LLMs, aiming to bridge the existing cultural and linguistic evaluation gap in the field. The evaluation results are publicly available on our live leaderboard: https://huggingface.co/spaces/opll-org/Open-Persian-LLM-Leaderboard