LLM but make it skinny

IN FOCUS

In today’s newsletter, we look at:

* Why bigger isn’t always better with large language models
* What the Philippine BPO industry teaches us about staying relevant in the face of AI
* How telcos in Asia Pacific are upping their AI game

---

Welcome to The Prompt! Delivered every fortnight, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in AI. Get all our content, including The Prompt, by registering for a Tech in Asia account. Alternatively, sign up here if you just want to receive this newsletter.

Hi there,

It took me a while to get on the genAI bandwagon. But after a year of ignoring it completely, it’s now become an indispensable part of my life. At work, I use ChatGPT to brainstorm headlines or to search for specific pieces of information, as it’s faster than using Google Search.

Inevitably, I’ve thought about what will happen to my job in the years to come. After all, if this technology can process and analyze information, and then convey it to others in mere seconds, what chance does a journalist have against it?

At the risk of being spectacularly wrong, I don’t think we’re there yet. All too often, genAI still produces content that is flat out wrong, incomplete, lacking in context, or simply generic. But give it a few years, and I’m sure things will be very different.

One job that is facing a more immediate threat from genAI is the call center worker. In one of this week’s featured pieces, our community writer Isa reveals that genAI has already eliminated around 8% of jobs in the Philippines’ business process outsourcing sector.

Yet, even in this industry, not everyone is expecting a complete wipeout.

Ultimately, the key to riding the genAI wave is to keep developing new skills. These include both hard skills, such as learning to work with sophisticated AI tools, and perhaps more importantly, soft ones.

Our second featured story looks at why bigger may not always be better, at least when it comes to large language models. Such models are expensive to run, require large amounts of energy, and may not be practically deployed where internet access is lacking.

As such, some AI startups are now focused on small language models, which promise the same benefits to companies in specific use cases but come without the high costs.

Meanwhile, in this week’s Hot Take, I look at what telcos in Asia Pacific are doing to leverage AI in their operations.

— Simon

---

THE BIG STORY

1️⃣ Honey, I shrunk the LLM: why leaner is meaner

---

THE HOT TAKE

---

DEEP READS

---

Don’t miss out on unparalleled networking and opportunities

---