Nvidia Quietly Releases Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct, Outperforming GPT-4 and Claude-3

Nvidia's new open-source AI model beats GPT-4o on benchmarks

Nvidia unceremoniously launched a new artificial intelligence model on Oct 15 that's purported to outperform state-of-the-art AI systems including GPT-4o and Claude-3. According to a post on the X.com social media platform from the Nvidia AI Developer account, the new model, dubbed Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct, "is a leading model" on lmarena.AI's Chatbot Arena. Nemotron Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct is, essentially, a modified version of Meta's open-source Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct. The "Nemotron" portion of the model's name encapsulates Nvidia's contribution to the end result. The Llama "herd" of AI models, as Meta refers to them, are meant to be used as open-source foundations for developers to build on. In the case of Nemotron, Nvidia took up the challenge and developed a system designed to be more "helpful" than popular models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude-3. Nvidia used specially curated datasets, advanced fine-tuning methods, and its own state-of-the-art AI hardware to turn Meta's vanilla model into what might be the most "helpful" AI model on the planet. "I asked it a few coding questions I usually ask to compare LLMs and got some of the best answers from this one. lol, holy shit." Benchmarking When it comes to determining which AI model is "the best," there's no clear-cut methodology. Unlike, for example, measuring the ambient temperature with a mercury thermometer, there isn't a single "truth" that exists when it comes to AI model performance. Developers and researchers have to determine how well an AI model performs the same as humans are evaluated: through comparative testing. Related: AI 'mind uploads' could allow the dead to trade forever AI benchmarking involves giving different AI models the same queries, tasks, questions, or problems and then comparing the usefulness of the results. Often, due to the subjectivity of what is and isn't considered useful, human proctors are used to determine a machine's performance through blind evaluations. In Nemotron's case, it appears that Nvidia is claiming the new model outperforms existing state-of-the-art models such as GPT-4o and Claude-3 by a fairly wide margin. The image above depicts the ratings on the automated "Hard" test on the Chatbot Arena Leaderboards. While Nvidia's Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct doesn't appear to be listed anywhere on the boards, if the developer's claim that it scored an 85 on this test is valid, it would be the de facto top model in this particular section. What makes the achievement perhaps even more interesting is that Llama-3.1-70B is Meta's middle-tier open-source AI model. There's a much larger version of Llama-3.1, the 405B version (where the number refers to how many billion parameters the model was tuned with). By comparison, GPT-4o is estimated to have been developed with over one trillion parameters.

Nvidia just dropped a new AI model that crushes OpenAI's GPT-4 -- no big launch, just big results

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Nvidia quietly unveiled a new artificial intelligence model on Tuesday that outperforms offerings from industry leaders OpenAI and Anthropic, marking a significant shift in the company's AI strategy and potentially reshaping the competitive landscape of the field. The model, named Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct, appeared on the popular AI platform Hugging Face without fanfare, quickly drawing attention for its exceptional performance across multiple benchmark tests. Nvidia reports that their new offering achieves top scores in key evaluations, including 85.0 on the Arena Hard benchmark, 57.6 on AlpacaEval 2 LC, and 8.98 on the GPT-4-Turbo MT-Bench. These scores surpass those of highly regarded models like OpenAI's GPT-4o and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet, catapulting Nvidia to the forefront of AI language understanding and generation. Nvidia's AI gambit: From GPU powerhouse to language model pioneer This release represents a pivotal moment for Nvidia. Known primarily as the dominant force in graphics processing units (GPUs) that power AI systems, the company now demonstrates its capability to develop sophisticated AI software. This move signals a strategic expansion that could alter the dynamics of the AI industry, challenging the traditional dominance of software-focused companies in large language model development. Nvidia's approach to creating Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct involved refining Meta's open-source Llama 3.1 model using advanced training techniques, including Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF). This method allows the AI to learn from human preferences, potentially leading to more natural and contextually appropriate responses. With its superior performance, the model has the potential to offer businesses a more capable and cost-efficient alternative to some of the most advanced models on the market. The model's ability to handle complex queries without additional prompting or specialized tokens is what sets it apart. In a demonstration, it correctly answered the question "How many r's are in strawberry?" with a detailed and accurate response, showcasing a nuanced understanding of language and an ability to provide clear explanations. What makes these results particularly significant is the emphasis on "alignment," a term in AI research that refers to how well a model's output matches the needs and preferences of its users. For enterprises, this translates into fewer errors, more helpful responses, and ultimately, better customer satisfaction. How Nvidia's new model could reshape business and research For businesses and organizations exploring AI solutions, Nvidia's model presents a compelling new option. The company offers free hosted inference through its build.nvidia.com platform, complete with an OpenAI-compatible API interface. This accessibility makes advanced AI technology more readily available, allowing a broader range of companies to experiment with and implement advanced language models. The release also highlights a growing shift in the AI landscape toward models that are not only powerful but also customizable. Enterprises today need AI that can be tailored to their specific needs, whether that's handling customer service inquiries or generating complex reports. Nvidia's model offers that flexibility, along with top-tier performance, making it a compelling option for businesses across industries. However, with this power comes responsibility. Like any AI system, Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct is not immune to risks. Nvidia has cautioned that the model has not been tuned for specialized domains like math or legal reasoning, where accuracy is critical. Enterprises will need to ensure they are using the model appropriately and implementing safeguards to prevent errors or misuse. The AI arms race heats up: Nvidia's bold move challenges tech giants Nvidia's latest model release signals just how fast the AI landscape is shifting. While the long-term impact of Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct remains uncertain, its release marks a clear inflection point in the competition to build the most advanced AI systems. By moving from hardware into high-performance AI software, Nvidia is forcing other players to reconsider their strategies and accelerate their own R&D. This comes on the heels of the company's introduction of the NVLM 1.0 family of multimodal models, including the 72-billion-parameter NVLM-D-72B. These recent releases, particularly the open-source NVLM project, have shown that Nvidia's AI ambitions go beyond just competing -- they are challenging the dominance of proprietary systems like GPT-4o in areas ranging from image interpretation to solving complex problems. The rapid succession of these releases underscores Nvidia's ambitious push into AI software development. By offering both multimodal and text-only models that compete with industry leaders, Nvidia is positioning itself as a comprehensive AI solutions provider, leveraging its hardware expertise to create powerful, accessible software tools. Nvidia's strategy seems clear: it's positioning itself as a full-service AI provider, combining its hardware expertise with accessible, high-performance software. This move could reshape the industry, pushing rivals to innovate faster and potentially sparking more open-source collaboration across the field. As developers test Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct, we're likely to see new applications emerge across sectors like healthcare, finance, education, and beyond. Its success will ultimately depend on whether it can turn impressive benchmark scores into real-world solutions. In the coming months, the AI community will closely watch how Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct performs in real-world applications beyond benchmark tests. Its ability to translate high scores into practical, valuable solutions will ultimately determine its long-term impact on the industry and society at large. Nvidia's deeper dive into AI model development has intensified the competition. If this is the beginning of a new era in artificial intelligence, it's one where fully integrated solutions may set the pace for future breakthroughs.