I’ve tried coding and every one I’ve tried fails unless really, really basic small functions like what you learn as a newbie compared to say 4o mini that can spit out more sensible stuff that works.
I’ve tried explanations and they just regurgitate sentences that can be irrelevant, wrong, or get stuck in a loop.
So. what can I actually use a small LLM for? Which ones? I ask because I have an old laptop and the GPU can’t really handle anything above 4B in a timely manner. 8B is about 1 t/s!
Sorry, I am just gonne dump you some links from my bookmarks that were related and interesting to read, cause I am traveling and have to get up in a minute, but I’ve been interested in this topic for a while. All of the links discuss at least some usecases. For some reason microsoft is really into tiny models and made big breakthroughs there.
https://reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1cdrw7p/what_are_the_potential_uses_of_small_less_than_3b/
https://github.com/microsoft/BitNet
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/phi-2-the-surprising-power-of-small-language-models/
https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/ai/the-phi-3-small-language-models-with-big-potential/
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/aiplatformblog/introducing-phi-4-microsoft’s-newest-small-language-model-specializing-in-comple/4357090