With so many large language models (LLMs), it can be hard to decide which to use.
The latest models are constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible in artificial intelligence. As these models continue to shape the way we interact with technology, the possibilities for generative AI applications are limitless.
We are now presented with a powerful toolset at our fingertips. It's suddenly easy to create AI agents and AI chatbots, or to use an LLM as a personal AI assistant in day-to-day tasks.
The world of LLMs is only just beginning.
What are large language models?
A large language model (LLM) is an advanced type of artificial intelligence designed to understand and generate human-like text.
LLMs use deep learning algorithms that have been trained on vast amounts of data to recognize patterns and context in language.
After training, they use natural language processing perform tasks like translation, content creation, summarization, and answering questions.
How to use a large language model
There are infinite ways to apply the power of an LLM. But most fall into one of 3 main categories:
1. AI agents and chatbots
LLMs are commonly integrated into chatbots and AI agents. These days, most conversational AI is powered by an LLM.
These models can handle complex queries, generate contextual responses, and even manage dynamic conversations that evolve based on user input.
Common AI agents include customer support chatbots and HR bots. But as the technology expands, so do use cases. Now businesses can build bespoke chatbots for hotels, sales chatbots, or even chatbots for real estate.
By understanding the intent and context behind questions, LLM-powered chatbots can be used for customer support, virtual assistants, or even in business process automation.
2. Daily use
LLMs have increasingly made their way into everyday tasks. People use them for content generation, text summarization, language translation, and even creative projects, like writing poems or generating art descriptions.
There are plenty of tools that use LLM APIs to help with daily tasks. Software like writing assistants or code completion tools are typically powered by LLMs these days.
3. API use
If you're a developer, you can be the one using an API to build other software and tools.
LLMs can be accessed via APIs, which provide flexibility for integrating language models into various software applications.
Whether it's adding natural language processing capabilities to an existing app or building new AI-driven features, APIs allow developers to use LLMs for tasks like sentiment analysis, language translation, or content generation without needing to build or train models themselves.
The 5 best LLMs
Most LLM use is hosted software, which means it's maintained and run by a third-party provider on their servers, rather than on the user’s local system.
Users access it over the internet, benefiting from simplified maintenance, updates, and infrastructure management handled by the host.
Here are the 5 best hosted LLMs available today:
1. GPT-4o
OpenAI’s latest multimodal model, GPT-4o, was released in May 2024 and integrates text, image, video, and voice capabilities.
This model is 50% cheaper and twice as fast as GPT-4, making it highly efficient for a wide range of tasks. It stands out with its Voice-to-Voice function, allowing for audio responses in real-time, with a latency of just 320 milliseconds.
GPT-4o also improves performance in non-English languages and offers a more interactive experience.
2. Claude 3.5
Launched by Anthropic in June 2024, Claude 3.5 is known for its ethical design and strong performance across various benchmarks.
Available through an API, it continues Anthropic’s focus on safer AI interactions. While the number of parameters remains undisclosed, its advanced capabilities make it a strong competitor for tasks involving conversational AI and content generation.
3. Grok-1
Developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, Grok-1 debuted in November 2023 with 314 billion parameters, focusing on generating responses with personality and real-time data from X (formerly Twitter).
In August 2024, xAI released Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini, which have reportedly outperformed GPT-4o in several performance metrics.
4. Gemini 1.5
Google's Gemini 1.5 focuses on improving multilingual capabilities and translation accuracy, making it particularly valuable for global businesses.
Released in mid-2024, it is also designed to enhance tasks like text generation, customer interaction, and more.
5. Inflection-2.5
Inflection AI’s Inflection-2.5 powers the conversational AI assistant Pi, released in March 2024.
This model achieves over 94% of GPT-4’s performance while using only 40% of the training computational resources.
Its efficiency has led to over a million daily active users on Pi, making it one of the most popular conversational models today
The 5 best open-source LLMs
If you're a builder, open source LLMs are your friend. Open-source software refers to code that is publicly available for anyone to view, modify, and distribute.
It fosters collaboration and transparency, allowing developers to adapt the software to their specific needs while contributing to its improvement.
Here are the top 5 open-source LLMs available today:
1. LLaMA 3.1
Meta’s latest open-source LLM, LLaMA 3, launched in April 2024, with sizes ranging from 8 billion to 70 billion parameters.
It offers improved reasoning and coding abilities and is open-source for developers. LLaMA 3 is designed to outperform models like Claude 3 and Gemini 1.5, making it a top choice for a range of real-world tasks.
2. Mistral 7B
Released by Mistral AI on September 27, 2023, this model has 7.3 billion parameters but manages to outperform larger models in many benchmarks.
Its smaller size makes it highly efficient, ideal for self-hosting, and versatile across NLP tasks.
3. Falcon 180B
Developed by the Technology Innovation Institute and released on September 6, 2023, Falcon 180B features a staggering 180 billion parameters, making it one of the largest and most powerful open-source LLMs.
It was designed to excel in tasks like translation, text generation, and research.
4. OLMo
Created by the Allen Institute for AI, OLMo focuses on transparency and reproducibility, making it highly valuable for research purposes.
It’s particularly favored by researchers who need full insight into the data and training process.
5. Qwen-1.5
Alibaba’s Qwen-1.5 is their open-source LLM, which competes with models from Meta and Google in both capability and cost-effectiveness.
It's aimed at high-performance tasks in language processing and is designed to scale across various applications, from e-commerce to customer service.
Deploy an LLM-powered AI agent
Leverage LLMs in your day-to-day with custom AI agents.
With the plethora of chatbot platforms out there, it’s easy to set up an AI agent to fulfill your specific needs.
Botpress is an endlessly extensible AI automation platform. With a pre-built library of integrations, drag-and-drop workflows, and comprehensive tutorials, it's accessible for builders at all stages of expertise.
Plug in any LLM to power your AI project, across any use case.
Start building today. It's free.
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