Argilla: Bridging Human Intuition and Machine Efficiency with Intel®

Since its inception in 2017, Argilla has set the developer community abuzz. Founded as a core NLP (natural language processing) consultancy, Argilla bootstrapped its current product through client project experience. With EU funding for its initial concepts, the company launched the first open-source version of its product in 2019 and raised its pre-seed in 2022. Today, while based in Madrid, Argilla embraces a remote-first mindset with employees scattered throughout Europe and an expanding hiring strategy in the US.

Their open-source data curation platform for LLMs (large language models) and SLMs (small language models) enables developers to build powerful language models with human and computational feedback at its core. The platform is designed to cater to the needs of developers and companies working with natural language processing, offering a streamlined process from data collection to model training. Argilla's mission is clear: to serve as the feedback layer for enterprise language models, empowering data teams from fine-tuning and RLHF (reinforcement learning from human feedback) to continuous model improvement.

Human-Model Synergy

Argilla offers an out-of-the box and fully configurable solution that can be managed in house instead of relying on external models and annotators.

Their platform integrates human feedback with computational feedback, allowing for faster and more accurate annotations. This dual-loop system ensures that as data is annotated, it's based on both human expertise and machine learning insights. The platform is also compatible with leading NLP companies like Hugging Face and OpenAI, ensuring that developers can easily integrate Argilla's datasets with popular architectures, making the transition from data collection to model training seamless.

Argilla’s Experience with Intel® Liftoff for Startups

Argilla's participation in the Intel® Liftoff program has been a transformative journey, providing valuable access to technical insights and resources. Through the program, Argilla received expert guidance, particularly in cloud-based model deployment and initiating active learning loops. They also participated in an Applied Use Case Workshop for fine-tuning LLMs. The workshop not only provided hands-on experience but also showcased the potential of leveraging Intel's XPUs for training, a significant advantage given the often limited availability of GPUs in the market.

Argilla is currently using the Intel® Developer Cloud and XPUs to close the MLOps loop for fine-tuning models to facilitate curated data.

"Joining the program was a pivotal decision for Argilla. Over the past six months, we've benefited immensely from the expert guidance and industry insights provided by Intel's seasoned professionals. The program's hands-on approach, combined with regular office hours and meetups, has been instrumental in refining our training processes and aligning our development strategies with industry best practices," said David Berenstein, Engineering & DevRel at Argilla.

Showcasing Argilla’s Capabilities at Intel® Innovation

At the Intel Innovation event, Argilla plans to present a detailed demo that highlights their platform's capabilities in working with language models. The demonstration will focus on Argilla's approach to fine-tuning language models, guiding attendees from the initial stages of data upload, data curation to the subsequent fine-tuning processes on Intel XPUs.

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Customer Impact

For a deeper understanding of Argilla, dive into this demo:

Argilla's Impact and Reach

The need for private and high-quality curated data is a longstanding challenge that Argilla is addressing for the LLM era.

With over 2.1 million downloads, 5,000 active OSS deployments, and a thriving community of 1,000 Slack members and 159 active contributors, Argilla's impact in the developer community is undeniable. Their open-source platform has garnered significant attention, with clients like SeedTag, GSK, and Idealista leveraging Argilla's SaaS cloud offer. Try their platform here: https://demo.argilla.io/login?auth=ZGVtbzoxMjM0NTY3OA==

Argilla's commitment to providing an out-of-the-box and fully configurable solution sets them apart from competitors, allowing businesses to manage their solutions in-house.

If you're a startup looking to gain exposure and elevate your technical capabilities, Intel® Liftoff for Startups is the right place for you. Apply today and start your journey to new heights of success.