Open-source LLMs vs big tech
A recently leaked internal document from Google indicates that the market share of big tech for large language models is not as secure as it seems thanks to advances in open-source LLMs. In short, the document says “We have no moat, and neither does OpenAI.” The dynamics of the market are gradually shifting from “bigger is better” to “cheaper is better,” “more efficient is better,” and “customizable is better.” And while there will always be a market for cloud-based LLM and generative AI products, customers now have open-source options to explore as well.
Key findings:
In recent years there has been a growing interest in scaling LLMs
The focus on scaling LLMs has research in AI labs owned and backed by big tech
At the same time, there is growing pressure to monetize the models to compensate for their costs
Big tech companies have built products models around LLMs and moats to protect their business models
The competition in commercial LLMs has in turn pushed the field into obscurity and less sharing
But a recent wave of open-source LLMs introduces an alternative path
Open-source LLMs prove that small models can compete with big ones and you can fine-tune them with a very low budget and modest amounts of data
The fast-paced advances in open-source LLMs are threatening the business model of big tech companies
Read the full analysis on TechTalks.
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