I was yesterday years old when I learned that those open weight models need custom code to run.
Somehow I expected inference engines are generic LLM runtimes that can execute any weight.
So, to get this right.
Someone trains a model.
They release the weights and a reference implementation of the model architecture.
Then a provider has to host this model either by running inference via the reference implementation, an open source implementation, or build their own.
Does this mean, providers don't just differ in quantisation and configuration, but also in inference engine implementation?
Somehow I expected inference engines are generic LLM runtimes that can execute any weight.
So, to get this right.
Someone trains a model.
They release the weights and a reference implementation of the model architecture.
Then a provider has to host this model either by running inference via the reference implementation, an open source implementation, or build their own.
Does this mean, providers don't just differ in quantisation and configuration, but also in inference engine implementation?