Compare OLMo 2 vs. Vicuna

OLMo 2 represents a collection of completely open language models created by the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), aimed at giving researchers and developers clear access to training datasets, open-source code, reproducible training methodologies, and thorough assessments. These models are trained on an impressive volume of up to 5 trillion tokens and compete effectively with top open-weight models like Llama 3.1, particularly in English academic evaluations. A key focus of OLMo 2 is on ensuring training stability, employing strategies to mitigate loss spikes during extended training periods, and applying staged training interventions in the later stages of pretraining to mitigate weaknesses in capabilities. Additionally, the models leverage cutting-edge post-training techniques derived from AI2's Tülu 3, leading to the development of OLMo 2-Instruct models. To facilitate ongoing enhancements throughout the development process, an actionable evaluation framework known as the Open Language Modeling Evaluation System (OLMES) was created, which includes 20 benchmarks that evaluate essential capabilities. This comprehensive approach not only fosters transparency but also encourages continuous improvement in language model performance.

Vicuna-13B is an open-source conversational agent developed through the fine-tuning of LLaMA, utilizing a dataset of user-shared dialogues gathered from ShareGPT. Initial assessments, with GPT-4 serving as an evaluator, indicate that Vicuna-13B achieves over 90% of the quality exhibited by OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Bard, and it surpasses other models such as LLaMA and Stanford Alpaca in more than 90% of instances. The entire training process for Vicuna-13B incurs an estimated expenditure of approximately $300. Additionally, the source code and model weights, along with an interactive demonstration, are made available for public access under non-commercial terms, fostering a collaborative environment for further development and exploration. This openness encourages innovation and enables users to experiment with the model's capabilities in diverse applications.