def METHOD_NAME(self, args):
    """`initialize` is called only once when the model is being loaded.
    Implementing `initialize` function is optional. This function allows
    the model to intialize any state associated with this model.
    Parameters
    ----------
    args : dict
      Both keys and values are strings. The dictionary keys and values are:
      * model_config: A JSON string containing the model configuration
      * model_instance_kind: A string containing model instance kind
      * model_instance_device_id: A string containing model instance device ID
      * model_repository: Model repository path
      * model_version: Model version
      * model_name: Model name
    """
    self.tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(
        "ernie-3.0-medium-zh", use_faster=True)
    # You must parse model_config. JSON string is not parsed here
    self.model_config = json.loads(args['model_config'])
    print("model_config:", self.model_config)
    self.input_names = []
    for input_config in self.model_config["input"]:
        self.input_names.append(input_config["name"])
    print("input:", self.input_names)
    self.output_names = []
    self.output_dtype = []
    for output_config in self.model_config["output"]:
        self.output_names.append(output_config["name"])
        dtype = pb_utils.triton_string_to_numpy(output_config["data_type"])
        self.output_dtype.append(dtype)
    print("output:", self.output_names)