OpenEuroLLM

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Status of the Project (No Models Yet)

  • Many commenters note there are no models, code, or demos linked; it’s “a press release about an effort,” not a release.
  • Some find the branding (“series of foundation models”) misleading before any model exists and would prefer clearer framing as a plan.
  • Several argue such early announcements are normal (comparing to OpenAI/NASA/etc.), while others think it shouldn’t be front-page news without concrete output.

EU Bureaucracy, Funding, and Effectiveness

  • Strong cynicism that this is “classic EU”: big consortiums, seals, and self-congratulation, but slow delivery and high overhead.
  • The €37.4M budget is seen by some as mainly funding PhD positions and reports rather than competitive models.
  • Others counter that EU mega-projects (e.g. CERN, EuroHPC) did eventually deliver and that coordination and public research have intrinsic value.
  • Broader debate erupts over EU vs US models of innovation, regulation, and welfare, with accusations of bias and ideology on both sides.

Goals: Openness, Compliance, Diversity

  • “Truly open” (including data and training code) is widely viewed as positive and addressing a common complaint about current “open” models.
  • “Compliant with EU regulations” raises concerns: regulations are seen as vague and evolving, and some fear heavy censorship or political bias.
  • Others reply that US-made models also embody their own biases, and that safety/defamation laws are not new.
  • Linguistic and cultural diversity is defended as a real European need; critics argue it may dilute focus if the aim is to reach frontier performance.

Overlap with Existing Efforts (Mistral, EuroLLM, HF)

  • Commenters ask why not just use or extend existing European open models like Mistral.
  • A separate, earlier EU-funded “EuroLLM” project has already released multilingual models; people question duplication and lack of coordination.
  • Noted as ironic that Hugging Face, seen as a major “open LLM” player with European roots, is not listed as a partner.

Cynicism vs Optimism

  • Many express that the initiative “smells EU”: regulation-first, heavy on symbolism, light on output.
  • Others argue the negativity is overblown: this is a research collaboration just starting, with GPUs and capable partners, and should be judged on results in a few years rather than on the press release.