{"id":10156,"date":"2026-09-21T14:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T14:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ai-grid.org\/?p=10156"},"modified":"2026-10-05T08:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:25:14","slug":"small-language-models-in-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ai-grid.org\/en\/uncategorized\/small-language-models-in-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Language Models in Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"10156\" class=\"elementor elementor-10156\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0af9779 e-con e-atomic-element e-flexbox-base e-default-div e-7585bf2\" data-id=\"0af9779\" data-element_type=\"e-flexbox\" data-e-type=\"e-flexbox\" data-interaction-id=\"0af9779\">\n    \t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-49c6211 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"49c6211\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Small Language Models are gaining traction as a practical alternative to large, cloud-hosted models. They can run on local hardware, provide greater control over sensitive data, and be adapted efficiently to specialised tasks. This presentation introduces Vision Language Models and shows how they can be deployed on local systems without relying on external APIs. It then focuses on a hands-on case study involving the LoRA fine-tuning of a Vision Language Model for information extraction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What participants will do<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Participants will explore the opportunities and trade-offs associated with running smaller models locally. They will learn how Vision Language Models can be deployed on their own hardware and follow the steps of a case study showing how LoRA fine-tuning can adapt a model to a specific information-extraction task.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What to expect<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Participants can expect a practical introduction to local and specialised AI models, with a focus on privacy, efficiency, and task-specific adaptation. The session will connect current model concepts with a concrete application, helping participants assess when a Small Language Model or a locally deployed Vision Language Model may be a suitable choice.<br><div data-chat-input-bar=\"\"><div><\/div><\/div><\/p><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><section data-message-id=\"f605b69e-5580-4a60-82e9-9c97672fa880\" aria-labelledby=\"_r_1sl_\"><div><div><div translate=\"no\"><div data-testid=\"markdown-response\"><div><p><span>Familiarity with basic machine-learning concepts, such as fine-tuning, will be helpful.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div><div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-18c5441 elementor-mobile-align-justify elementor-widget-mobile__width-inherit elementor-align-left elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"18c5441\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm elementor-animation-bob\" href=\"https:\/\/ai-grid.org\/en\/ai-grid-summit-2026\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Back to overview<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Small Language Models are gaining traction as a practical alternative to large, cloud-hosted models. They can run on local hardware, provide greater control over sensitive data, and be adapted efficiently to specialised tasks. This presentation introduces Vision Language Models and shows how they can be deployed on local systems without relying on external APIs. It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-workshop"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Small Language Models in Practice - AI GRID<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AI Grid Summit 2026 Workshop - Small Language Models in Practice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ai-grid.org\/en\/uncategorized\/small-language-models-in-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small Language Models in Practice - AI GRID\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AI Grid Summit 2026 Workshop - Small Language Models in Practice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ai-grid.org\/en\/uncategorized\/small-language-models-in-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AI GRID\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-21T14:02:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-05T08:25:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ai-grid.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Philippe-Thomas.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alina Zaslavska\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alina Zaslavska\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/uncategorized\\\/small-language-models-in-practice\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/uncategorized\\\/small-language-models-in-practice\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alina Zaslavska\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/489fd8bd0e6889ecb83004dfc4b7d3a5\"},\"headline\":\"Small Language Models in Practice\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-21T14:02:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-05T08:25:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/uncategorized\\\/small-language-models-in-practice\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":201,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/uncategorized\\\/small-language-models-in-practice\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Philippe-Thomas.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"uncategorized\",\"Workshop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/uncategorized\\\/small-language-models-in-practice\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/uncategorized\\\/small-language-models-in-practice\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ai-grid.org\\\/uncategorized\\\/small-language-models-in-practice\\\/\",\"name\":\"Small Language Models in Practice - 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