Ask HN: Why are most LLM libraries dead projects now? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why are most LLM libraries dead projects now?

5 pointsbehnamoh6 comments

Microsoft Guidance is not continued anymore (last commit = 1 month ago).

Minimaxir/SimpleAIChat seems to be abandoned (last commit = 1 month ago).

rogeriochaves/langstream was updated two weeks ago and has only two issues, both open.

kyang6/llmparser was updated 5 months ago.

Some other projects that seem abandoned due to no activity:

young-geng/EasyLM

1rgs/jsonformer

newhouseb/clownfish

What's going on? Did people find that their secret weapon is the library they use, so they started building their own private libraries?

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Most LLM popular libraries are inactive, but a handful are very active. That's a product of it being a hype/popular/new field, where new projects got attention from being new, they didn't need to be ongoing to get attention. (This is fine - it serves as a way to reward people for exploring early on in a new field, which is helpful for new ecosystems)

People saw that an easy way to get "github status" was to create LLM projects. Some of the LLM projects were created to be cool tools that became popular, and the devs don't have as much interest in continuing them.

This is a natural thing to be expected in new and popular fields.

There are still many LLM libraries that are very active.

It's kinda the same as asking - why are most blogs dead projects now? The author had initial excitement, created it, shared it, the excitement/development didn't continue, but also we still have a ton of great blogs that exist on the web from the authors that did continue.

I wouldn't say that they are dead just because they haven't had commits for a month or so.

One reason could be that they were developed for specific versions of software and haven't been updated to keep pace with evolving technologies. Additionally, the open-source community often faces challenges with maintaining and funding projects, which can lead to stagnation.

However, it's worth exploring alternatives or checking if any passionate developers have taken up the torch to revive these libraries for newer software versions. Collaboration and community support are key in keeping such projects alive.

Discussed a couple days ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37404949

Same person posted that thread as this one.

Perhaps summer vacations in the northern hemisphere?

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