Web LLM (Large Language Model) refers to a technology that enables running large language models directly in web browsers with hardware acceleration, without requiring server-side processing.
What is Web LLM?
Web LLM is a modular and customizable JavaScript package that brings language model inference capabilities directly into web browsers, leveraging hardware acceleration through WebGPU. It allows building AI assistants, chatbots, and other language model-powered applications that run entirely within the browser, eliminating the need for server communication.
Key Features of Web LLM
- In-Browser Inference: Performs language model inference natively in the browser, without server support.
- Hardware Acceleration: Utilizes WebGPU for hardware acceleration, enabling high-performance language model operations.
- OpenAI API Compatibility: Fully compatible with the OpenAI API, allowing seamless integration with various language models.
- Extensive Model Support: Supports a wide range of models, including LLaMA, Alpaca, Vicuna, and more.
- Custom Model Integration: Allows easy integration and deployment of custom language models in MLC format.
- Streaming and Real-Time Interactions: Supports streaming chat completions for real-time, interactive applications like chatbots.
- Web Worker and Service Worker Support: Offloads computations to separate worker threads for optimized UI performance.
- Chrome Extension Support: Enables building custom Chrome extensions powered by Web LLM.
Applications and Use Cases
- Private AI Conversations: Web LLM Chat is a private AI chat interface that runs language models natively in the browser, ensuring data privacy and offline accessibility.
- AI-Powered Web Applications: Developers can build AI-powered web applications using Web LLM, such as virtual assistants, content analysis tools, and language translation services.
- Privacy and Accessibility: By running language models locally in the browser, Web LLM enables private and accessible AI interactions without relying on cloud services or internet connectivity.
Web LLM is an open-source project initiated by members from various institutions, including CMU Catalyst, UW SAMPL, SJTU, OctoML, and the MLC community, aiming to democratize AI technology and enable privacy-preserving language model applications.