01 / The Model
Small language model
A compact language model that is cheaper and faster to run, sometimes on a laptop or phone. Less capable in general, often good enough for a narrow task.
How you’ll hear it
“Do we need the biggest model for tagging tickets?”
“No. A small model does it faster and for a fraction of the cost.”
Avoid
Defaulting to the largest model for every job.
The longer version
Small language models trade breadth for speed, cost and control. They can run on your own hardware, keep data local and answer quickly. For focused, repetitive tasks, particularly after some fine-tuning, they often match much larger models.