This lesson is IMPORTANT! Not only will you learn some important information, but it'll help you determine which section of the course to go to next. Make sure to read it all.

In this lesson you will choose which Large Language Model (LLM) you'll use for the course. (You can certainly switch between LLMs and use multiple, but you need at least one to start!).

It's important for this course that you have access to an LLM that you can use to follow along, try out the prompts on the screen, conduct the exercises, and experiment with your own so that you get used to working with LLMs and their nuances.

In this course I'll generally be using two tools for demonstration purposes:

1. ChatGPT, specifically a mixture of GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models (if you don't understand the difference between ChatGPT and a GPT model yet, don't worry, you will learn that soon!).
2. OpenAI Playground, which is a platform that allows you to use the GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models in a way that lets you have more control over them.

However, the information and techniques taught in the course will work with other LLMs as well. Plus new LLMs are coming out all the time. That's why this course is designed to let you use basically any LLM you'd like!

Actually, this is a good time to crack out our first fun fact: LLMs are non-deterministic. That means that even if we use the same LLM, and provide it with the same prompt, we'll get at least slightly different responses! That means even if you're using the same LLM that I'm using in a video, and do exactly as I do, you may get a different result. That's half the fun of this course - even though you'll be following along, you'll still get to experiment yourself!

But first you'll need to choose an LLM to use and get setup.

There are a ton of LLMs out there for you to use, though I recommend you use a leading LLM so that you get the highest quality responses and can really start to FEEL. THE. POWER!

That's why I'm constantly revising the recommended LLM options for this course, so that you can use the current leading models, both free and paid, so that you can choose which option is best for you and your budget.

CHOOSE YOUR LLM HERE

RECOMMENDED OPTION: BOTH CHATGPT & CLAUDE

I recommend you use both ChatGPT (GPT-4o) and Claude (Claude 3.5 Sonnet) for this course. Both are free. However, with the free version you're only allowed a limited number of messages per day, and you will have some limitations (e.x. you won't be able to upload files or generate images). If you want to increase your limits and have access to these additional capabilities, you can upgrade either ChatGPT or Claude. Each one costs USD$20/month. However, you do not need to upgrade in order to complete this course.

Why am I having you sign-up for both? One of the most important lessons you can learn is that each LLM behaves differently. Each has pros and cons, and those pros and cons are constantly changing as the models are refined. So your preferred LLM will probably change across time and tasks. I highly recommend you experiment with using both LLMs for the exercises in this course and figure out which one you prefer!

How To Setup: the following sections in this course titled "ChatGPT Setup" and "Claude Setup" will walk you through the setup process.


ALTERNATIVE OPTION (ALSO FREE): OPEN-SOURCE MODEL

You also have the option to use your own open-source LLM that you can download and run on your computer! This is actually a great option and is free, but you'll need a relatively modern & powerful computer in order to do it: see the "minimum hardware / software requirements" at the bottom of this page to confirm if your system meets the requirements. If you'd like to do this, please skip ahead to the section titled "Open Source Models" where I'll walk you through setting up your own open-source LLM, and then return to this lesson.

• Llama 3: this is the leading open source LLM and you can access it for free (as long as your computer is meets the required specifications). Includes multi-modality (accepts texts and images in the prompt).
• How To Setup: to "Section 13: Using Open Source Models" in this course where I'll walk you through the setup process.