Do you want to use a local GenAI on your laptop or PC for your research? Small language models (SLM) are compact alternatives to large language models, and they are ideal for handling specific tasks on your local devices. In this hands-on workshop, Maxigas (critical infrastructure lab), Jenny Chan, Dmitry Kuznetsov (critical infrastructure lab) and Annette Markham (Media and Culture Studies) will show and teach you how to install and use SLMs for your research. 

What could you use SLM for? Some researchers want to organise and sift through years of data they’ve been collecting on their own device, maybe to link different research projects together. Other researchers might want to automate part of their workflow. Research institutes or project managers might want to standardise templates and automate research-related tasks. Still others might want to play around with AI, but want to keep the data local, to avoid sharing data through large corporate entities, or to better control what data is being processed by AI.

What to expect  

The goal of finding, installing, and effectively using a SLM is wise, if you want to use it in research, but it is massively difficult to achieve in practice. This workshop therefore provides a communal space where we share knowledge. The workshop facilitators will walk participants through some of the steps involved, discuss the benefits and challenges, and then present and demonstrate a physical SLM set-up we have developed. Participants can then connect to this SLM online or offline to test it out.