What does LLM mean?

LLM stands for Large Language Model. It’s the type of AI model behind tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

The “large” part refers to scale. These models are trained on enormous amounts of text from across the internet, books, code, and more, using billions or even trillions of parameters (the internal settings that get adjusted during training). The more parameters, the more capacity the model has to learn patterns.

The “language” part is what makes them special. Unlike earlier AI models trained to do one specific task (like recognizing images or playing chess), language models are trained on text and can handle a huge range of tasks: writing, summarizing, translating, answering questions, writing code, and more. Because so much human knowledge exists as text, a model that gets really good at language ends up being useful for almost everything.

When people talk about AI today, they’re usually talking about LLMs. GPT-4, Claude 3, Gemini, Llama, and Mistral are all LLMs. The term gets used interchangeably with “AI model” in casual conversation, though technically an LLM is a specific type of AI model focused on language.