
Emerging Technology
Can Hugging Face’s Open-source AI Assistant Maker Take On OpenAI’s ChatGPT?
By Lakshana Raichandani

Updated on Mon, Feb 5, 2024
Guess what? In a bold move to democratize AI, New York City-based startup Hugging Face has unleashed a powerful tool that could revolutionize the way developers interact with AI.
In the first week of February, the company proudly introduced the Hugging Chat Assistant, a customizable and third-party alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT, providing users with the freedom to forge their own AI chatbots with specific capabilities.
This development comes hot on the heels of the leak of Mistral's open-source model, Miqu, which reportedly rivals the performance of the closed GPT-4, currently considered the pinnacle of large language models (LLMs). Let’s explore!
What Is Hugging Chat Assistant All About?
- Well, unlike OpenAI's proprietary GPT Builder and GPT Store, Hugging Face's Hugging Chat Assistant offering comes free of charge, making it a compelling choice for developers seeking cost-effective solutions.
- Phillip Schmid, Hugging Face's Technical Lead and LLMs Director, shared the exciting news on the social network X (formerly Twitter), boasting that users can construct a personalized Hugging Face Chat Assistant "in 2 clicks!"
- Schmid openly compared the new capabilities to OpenAI's custom GPTs, signaling a direct challenge to the established giant in the field.

How Is Hugging Chat Assistant Anticipated To Challenge ChatGPT?
- One of the key differentiators lies in the flexibility of Hugging Chat Assistant, allowing users to choose from several open-source large language models (LLMs) to power the intelligence of their AI Assistant.
- Options range from Mistral's Mixtral to Meta's Llama 2, providing users with a spectrum of choices aligning with Hugging Face's commitment to diversity in AI models.
- In a strategic move reminiscent of OpenAI's GPT Store, Hugging Face has also created a central repository of third-party customized Hugging Chat Assistants.
- Users can conveniently explore and select assistants tailored to their needs, giving the platform a distinct advantage in user-friendly accessibility.
- In fact, early adopters in the open-source AI community are already hailing Hugging Chat Assistants as a superior alternative to GPTs.
- Mathieu Trachino, founder of enterprise AI software provider GenDojo.ai, took to X to express his enthusiasm, listing merits such as user customizability and the absence of subscription fees.
- Trachino acknowledged areas where custom GPTs excel, such as web search, retrieval augmented generation (RAG) and logo generation but emphasized the groundbreaking fact that Hugging Chat Assistants offer these features for free.

Nevertheless, the rapid emergence of Hugging Chat Assistants highlights the accelerating pace at which the open-source community is catching up with closed competitors such as OpenAI. Now, as Hugging Face continues to disrupt the landscape, the AI community eagerly anticipates further breakthroughs and advancements.
Do you think the quest for open-source, customizable AI solutions is at and end with Hugging Chat Assistant? Will we see it pave the way for other open-source LLMs soon?
Feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments section below!
First published on Mon, Feb 5, 2024
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