Swinburne University of Technology

Amir Aryani

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At the time of writing this post (November 19, 2023), there are 401,014
models and transformers listed on
[Huggingface.co](https://huggingface.co/models). This number is a
testament to the success and impact of the open-source model in the
development of AI technologies. However, the challenge at hand is
understanding the available models and keeping up to date with the
latest developments.

A very rough estimate of the time it might take a person to review all
of these models suggests that it would take more than 12 years to go
through all of the models listed on Hugging Face as of November 2023.

### Time Estimation

Estimating the time it takes for a human to read the description of a
single model on Hugging Face involves several factors, including the
length of the description, the complexity of the content, and the
reading speed of the individual. Here's a breakdown of how to estimate
this time:

1\. **Average Reading Speed**: The average adult reads at about 200--250
words per minute (WPM). However, technical content, like descriptions of
machine learning models, might be read more slowly due to complexity.

2\. **Length of the Description**: The length of model descriptions on
Hugging Face can vary significantly. Some are brief, while others are
quite detailed.

3\. **Complexity of the Content**: Descriptions of machine learning
models often include technical terms and concepts that can slow down
reading speed. A safe estimate might be to assume a reading speed closer
to 150--200 WPM for such content.

This is a rough estimate and can vary based on the individual's
familiarity with the content and their reading speed. Also, some models
have substantial text such as Whisper-large-v3 which includes more than
1,500 words, while Suno Bark includes about 700 words. We take the
estimate of 1,000 per page.

Time to read a model description page = 1,000 words / 150 WPM , which is
approximately 6.6 minutes

Time to read all model descriptions, assuming a 7-hour workday (30
days/month) and no rest for our enthusiastic learner would be 158
months. This is more than 12 years.

    n = 400,000 #Number of Models
    m = 6.6 #Minute per Model
    T = 12,600 #Working Minute per Month (60 X 7 X 30)
    total_working_months = n X m / T # 158.73
    print(total_working_months)

    > 158.73

### Summary

While I do not believe this analysis accurately represents the effort,
value, and contribution of the open-source community to AI development,
it does provide an indication of the vast capabilities in this space.
However, it's worth acknowledging that this estimate may be hindered by
an oversimplification of the effort required to understand the intrinsic
details of each model. Additionally, it overlooks the fact that many of
these models are fine-tuned from the same foundation, exhibiting
substantial similarities.

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At the time of writing this post (November 19, 2023), there are 401,014 models and transformers listed on Huggingface.co. This number is a testament to the success and impact of the open-source model in the development of AI technologies. However, the challenge at hand is understanding the available models and keeping up to date with the latest developments.

Rogue Scholar Posts

Estimated time: 12 Years to Review all 400k Models on Hugging Face