Open-Source LLM

Benched.ai Editorial Team

An open-source LLM releases both model weights and code under a permissive license, allowing inspection, modification, and commercial use.

Notable Projects (2025)

Model	Params	License
Llama-3 8B	8 B	Apache-2.0
Mixtral 8x22B	46 B (MoE)	Apache-2.0
Phi-3 Mini	3.8 B	MIT

Advantages vs Proprietary

Aspect	Open-source	Proprietary
Cost	One-time GPU cost	Ongoing API fees
Transparency	Inspect weights	Black box
Customization	Full fine-tune	Limited
Support	Community	Vendor SLA

Design Trade-offs

Open weights can be misused if safety not enforced.
Enterprises shoulder upgrade & security patch burden.
Fragmented ecosystem may lack unified tooling.

Current Trends (2025)

Community merges FP8 checkpoints reducing GPU RAM by 2×.
Foundation Model Transparency Act proposes disclosure guidelines.
Corporate-sponsored OSS LLMs include RedPajama-III from Together AI.

Implementation Tips

Verify SHA hash of downloads to avoid supply-chain attacks.
Check license clauses for trademark or distribution limits.
Share upstream improvements via pull requests.