All the major tech companies are in a fight with each other to win the AI race. God only knows when that will end. Now, Microsoft has launched a new lightweight AI model called Phi-3-mini. With this, Microsoft aims to broaden its client base by providing cost-effective solutions. This launch is a part of three small language models (SLMs). Let’s find out more about these.
SLMs are language models specifically designed to take care of simpler tasks. This is more convenient for companies that have limited resources.
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Phi-3-mini will be pretty easy to access. It can be immediately accessed on Microsoft cloud service platform Azure’s AI model catalog, machine learning model platform Hugging Face, and Ollama, a framework for running models on a local machine, as per Microsoft. In addition to this, it will also be available on Nvidia’s software tool Nvidia Inference Microservices (NIM). It is optimised for its graphic cards. This allows for efficient performance across different hardware environments.
Sébastien Bubeck, Microsoft’s vice president of GenAI research, said, “Phi-3 is not slightly cheaper, it’s dramatically cheaper, we’re talking about a 10x cost difference compared to the other models out there with similar capabilities.”
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This development comes from Microsoft’s strategic investment of $1.5 billion in UAE-based AI firm G42, which underscores its commitment to expanding its global AI capabilities and partnerships. Notably, the company has previously collaborated with French startup Mistral AI to integrate its models into its Azure cloud computing platform, further bolstering its AI ecosystem.
With Phi-3-mini’s launch, Microsoft aims to democratize AI adoption, providing businesses of all sizes with affordable and accessible AI solutions to drive innovation and productivity in the digital era.
