Hugging Face Launches Free Customizable Generative AI Chatbots – Voicebot.ai
Open-source generative AI startup Hugging Face has introduced customizable generative AI chatbots called Hugging Chat Assistants. The free tool allows users to build their own variation of a generative AI chatbot from the Hugging Chat chatbot in a couple of clicks, powered by an available open-source large language model like Meta’s Llama 2 and Mistral’s Mixtral. The new feature follows and is clearly designed to compete with OpenAI’s GPT Store, which Hugging Face co-founder and CTO referred to as “being a bit sad.”
Ten days ago I posted about GPT Store being a bit sad 😢:
What if we could build an open source alternative, with the full power of the Community?
So last Friday we launched Hugging Chat Assistants, and the adoption has been impressive:
– 4,000 Assistants have been created on… pic.twitter.com/X7Duqc40ss
— Julien Chaumond (@julien_c) February 5, 2024
The Hugging Chat Assistant platform offers a similar concept to the GPT Store in terms of more focused and unique ideas built on the power of an LLM. However, Hugging Face claims more flexibility because it doesn’t rely solely on GPT-3.5 and GPT-4. Similarly, the GPT Builder and Store require at least a ChatGPT Plus membership or a higher tier of subscription, while Hugging Face’s central repository is free for users to browse and try out. They already include a swath of tools for selling things, helping with customer service, and fine-tuning LLMs, as well as games and cooking advice from the simulacrum of an Italian grandma.
The open-source model options and lack of subscription fees might make Hugging Face’s creation seem automatically superior, but the chatbots built with GPT-4 can have capabilities beyond what Llama 2 and Mixtral offer. Still, the new custom models do seem like a great way for Hugging Face to promote its open ecosystem. Much like how its Starcoder coding assistant does on the AI pair-programmer front. There’s no denying the demand for conversational generative AI, wherever it comes from. Meta has already deployed Llama 2 for its own array of custom (and celebrity-backed) characters. And OpenAI patron Microsoft is exploring custom generative AI chatbots with its Copilot GPTs. After raising $235 million last summer, Hugging Face has plenty of runway to experiment and enhance the attractiveness of its platform.
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Eric Hal Schwartz is Head Writer and Podcast Producer for Voicebot.AI. Eric has been a professional writer and editor for more than a dozen years, specializing in the stories of how science and technology intersect with business and society. Eric is based in New York City.