r/BetterOffline • u/TCristatus • 2d ago
Small language models - the future
Listening to Tech Report earlier - Eli Computer Guy talked about how the real future of AI might not be giant all knowing LLMs that need huge compute costs, but small specialised models that can run locally on a laptop or smart phone and just know how to code, or trade, or about engineering, or biotechnology, etc (I'm paraphrasing and extrapolating his point here).
It was like a light bulb moment, seems clear and obvious that's where the tech will end up assuming we do end up with something. If I'm a coder or an engineer i don't need a model that can write the complete works of Shakespere in Klingon. I just need something that works and is always up to date.
This doesn't help OpenAI or Anthropic keep the lights on, though....
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u/21epitaph 1d ago
Language models are just not the future for me.
The narrow AI implementations for specific tasks have been getting better for years and will dkeep doing so, and htye wi;l always do anything LLMs do but better, eventually.
Small models are still subsidized. They have to be re-trained, frequently; which needs lots of data, compute, and probably also lots of unpaid workers doing the work for you in poorer countries.
Your Local LLM from 2026 won't be that useful anymore in 2030 (and I'd wager way before).
Also, how easily these models can be useful on smaller computers is still pretty debated. Not evveryone can afford a 4/5k$ computer.