I usually don’t even understand the lingo they use. “Open-weighted” is the most recent one, then it usually goes down to specific “models” that everybody is supposed to know about.

These are my thoughts (I will stick to the vague “it” for now, but of course therein lies another question: “and how does all this apply to various specialised AIs”):

  • Is it really feasible to run it 100% locally? I know there’s plenty of people with very powerful rigs indeed, but still. Or are 99% of these people really saying “it would, in theory, be possible to run that locally, therefore your concerns are invalid”?
  • If yes to the previous: the software doesn’t come from nowhere and ultimately still relies on gas-turbine-powered datacenters and stolen IP and stolen personal data, no?

If what I wrote above is true, what exactly are people arguing when they say it’s still possible to use LLMs ethically or true to FOSS philosophy, because … ???


edit

Thanks to all who answered.

I guess it’s my fault for asking several questions in one, but this thread has attracted exactly the type of people I’m writing about; several even used the term “open-weighted models” without explaining it.

Asking to get arguments explained, I got more arguments instead.

  • Scott 🇨🇦🏴‍☠️ @lemmy.ca
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    10 days ago

    “Open weighted” I take to mean that the user can see what sources the LLM/AI was trained upon. Usually this information is a closely guarded corporate secret.

    As for “models” this is no different than the different models that a car company offers. Sentra from Nissan, F-150 from Ford, Civic from Honda

    If locally run or through a data center, LLM/AIs have two major problems:

    1. The results can’t really be trusted due to their tendency to hallucinate.
    2. Frequent LLM/AI usage has been proven to deskill the user as well as a reduction in cognitive ability. I’m dumb enough without getting help from a clanker.

    Assuming “run it 100% locally” means on your own hardware with network access, I see no reason this can’t happen given a powerful enough computer.

    • Feyd@programming.dev
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      10 days ago

      Open weight just means you can download the model. They tried to call that open source because they’re sleazy assholes but that was successfully stopped. “Open weight” still causes confusion as you can see and that is their goal in starting that term.