Hugging Face Chat Assistants

Hugging Face recently launched Hugging Chat Assistant, a direct competitor to OpenAI’s GPT Store. 

This platform allows the creation of personalized AI chatbots, leveraging various open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) like Llama2 and Mistral. Unlike OpenAI’s GPTs, which require a subscription, Hugging Chat Assistant offers a free, user-customizable alternative. 

Users can define their Assistant’s name, avatar, description, and underlying LLM, and customize system messages and message starters.

Despite being a free service, Hugging Chat Assistant currently lacks features such as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), web search, and actions, which are available in OpenAI’s custom GPTs. However, these features are planned for future updates, signaling a roadmap towards parity with OpenAI’s offerings.

Within days of its release, the platform gained traction, hosting over 4,000 Assistants. Hugging Face’s strategy also includes expanding its service with seven more open-source stores, aiming to diversify the options available for users.