BLOOM represents a monumental leap in the field of artificial intelligence, particularly in the realm of large language models (LLMs). With an impressive 176 billion parameters, BLOOM is not just another addition to the AI landscape; it is a beacon of open, collaborative research. This model is capable of generating text in 46 natural languages and 13 programming languages, making it a versatile tool for a wide range of applications. For many languages, including Spanish, French, and Arabic, BLOOM is the first language model of its scale, boasting over 100 billion parameters.
The development of BLOOM is a testament to the power of collaboration. Over 1000 researchers from more than 70 countries and 250 institutions came together to bring this project to life. The training process, which lasted 117 days, was conducted on the Jean Zay supercomputer in France, thanks to a compute grant worth an estimated €3M from French research agencies CNRS and GENCI.
BLOOM is not just a tool for generating text; it is a platform for exploration and discovery. Researchers can download, run, and study the model to delve into the intricacies of large language models. The model is available under the Responsible AI License, allowing individuals and institutions to use and build upon it, provided they agree to the license terms. Embedded in the Hugging Face ecosystem, BLOOM is easily accessible for those looking to experiment with or implement large language models in their projects.
In the spirit of openness and continuous improvement, the team behind BLOOM has also released the intermediary checkpoints and optimizer states from the training process. This unprecedented level of transparency allows for a deeper understanding of the model's development and offers a foundation for future research and innovation.
Looking ahead, the capabilities of BLOOM are set to expand. Efforts are underway to enhance its instructability, add more languages, and compress the model for broader usability. BLOOM is more than just a model; it is the seed of a living family of models that will grow and evolve with the contributions of the global AI community.
