LLMs in 2024: A Year in Review

This 2024 blog post reviews advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs). Key themes include the breaking of the GPT-4 barrier, with multiple organizations surpassing its capabilities; significant improvements in model efficiency and price reductions, making LLMs more accessible; the rise of multimodal models incorporating vision, audio, and even live video; and the emergence of inference-scaling "reasoning" models. The author also discusses challenges like the prevalence of "slop" (unwanted, unreviewed AI-generated content), the difficulty of using LLMs effectively, and the uneven distribution of LLM knowledge. The overall purpose is to summarize the year's progress in the field, highlighting both achievements and remaining obstacles.