Summary:
1. ByteDance’s Seed Team released Seed-OSS-36B, a new line of open source, large language models designed for advanced reasoning.
2. The collection includes three main variants: Seed-OSS-36B-Base with synthetic data, Seed-OSS-36B-Base without synthetic data, and Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct.
3. The models are released under the Apache-2.0 license, allowing free use, modification, and redistribution by researchers and developers.
Article:
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has recently made waves in the tech world with the release of Seed-OSS-36B by their Seed Team of AI researchers. This new line of open source, large language models is specifically designed for advanced reasoning and developer-focused usability, offering a longer token context than many competing models from U.S. tech companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
The collection introduces three main variants: Seed-OSS-36B-Base with synthetic data, Seed-OSS-36B-Base without synthetic data, and Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct. Each variant serves a specific purpose, balancing practical performance with research flexibility. The synthetic-data variant, trained with additional instruction data, consistently delivers stronger scores on standard benchmarks, while the non-synthetic model provides a cleaner foundation without potential bias from synthetic data.
One of the key highlights of Seed-OSS-36B is its native long-context capability, allowing it to process extended documents and reasoning chains without performance loss. With 36 billion parameters across 64 layers and support for a vocabulary of 155,000 tokens, Seed-OSS-36B offers a powerful solution for developers and researchers alike. The introduction of a thinking budget also sets it apart, allowing teams to specify the level of reasoning the model should perform before delivering an answer.
In terms of competitive performance, benchmarks show that Seed-OSS-36B holds its own among large open-source models. The Instruct variant, in particular, achieves state-of-the-art results in areas like math, reasoning, and coding. Enterprises looking for strong potential across various workloads can consider Seed-OSS as a viable option, especially with its accessibility features for developers and practitioners.
Moreover, the models are offered under the Apache-2.0 license, providing organizations with the freedom to adopt them without restrictive licensing terms. This release not only showcases the performance capabilities of Seed-OSS-36B but also emphasizes the importance of accessibility and flexibility for enterprise decision-makers. With strong performance, flexible deployment options, and an open license, Seed-OSS-36B opens up new possibilities for enterprises, researchers, and developers in the AI space.