Large Language Models (LLMs) are more influential in transforming the future of AI. These complex systems are built to understand and generate more natural, human-like text, enabling efficient interaction between people and machines. Their applications are impactful in several industries, including healthcare, finance, education, and entertainment. From answering questions to crafting creative stories, LLMs are changing how we engage with technology in our daily lives.
While many LLMs are available in 2025, you might not know the best of them. This comprehensive guide will introduce you to the top 7 LLMs of the year, allowing you to explore each model’s unique capabilities and features.
Let’s get started!
What Is an LLM?
An LLM is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) model designed to understand, generate, and process human language. These models are built and trained on large amounts of data. During the training process, LLMs learn the complexities of the language, the relationships between words, and the intended messages behind sentences.
When you provide LLM with a prompt, it generates a response by predicting the next text segment based on the input. Unlike traditional systems that search for keywords to give standard responses, LLMs strive to understand the meaning of your request and provide relevant answers. This ability makes LLM so popular, driving their use in various applications, including AI chatbots, AI virtual assistants, and AI writing generators.
Benefits of Using LLMs
- Enhanced Efficiency: LLMs can process and analyze vast amounts of data rapidly. This reduces the time required for various tasks, such as document summarization, content generation, and customer query handling.
- Self-Attention Mechanism: One of the key innovations in LLMs is the capability of the attention mechanism. It enables the model to weigh the importance of different words of the input text and their relationships in context.
- Scalability: With the ability to process high volumes of queries simultaneously, LLMs are suitable for scenarios with high customer interaction demands.
- Personalization: You can fine-tune LLMs on specific datasets to cater to particular business or user preferences.
- 24/7 Availability: LLMs can operate continuously without breaks, providing full-time assistance to users.
- Language Translation: Many LLMs can understand and respond in multiple languages to enable smooth cross-cultural interaction.
How Do LLMs work?
LLMs work through a combination of advanced machine learning and NLP techniques to process and generate human language. Let’s see how it operates:
Data Collection
LLMs rely on extensive datasets from diverse sources, such as books, articles, websites, and social media. These datasets help the model learn about language patterns, grammar, contexts, and semantic meaning.
Data Processing
Before training, the raw data must undergo several processing steps, including cleaning, standardization, and filtering, to remove irrelevant or low-quality text. Following this, the text is broken down into smaller units called tokens. These tokens can be individual words, subwords, or characters and enable the model to manage and analyze the text efficiently.
Once tokenized, the individual tokens can then be represented as numerical vectors in high-dimensional space, known as vector embeddings. Words with similar meanings are placed closer together in this space, enabling the model to understand semantic similarities.
Transformers Architecture
Transformers are deep neural network architecture behind LLMs. It consists of multiple layers of neurons, where each layer refines its understanding of the input text. These transformers’ self-attention mechanism enables context-aware understanding. When you train the LLM on massive amounts of data using transformers, the model can predict the next word in a sequence based on preceding words.
Fine-Tuning
After initial training, LLMs can undergo fine-tuning using smaller or task-specific datasets. This process enhances their performance in certain areas, such as translation, summarization, or sentiment analysis. During fine-tuning, the model adjusts its hyperparameters, like weights and biases in its neural layers, based on the new data. These adjustments gradually improve the prediction accuracy for the specific task.
Seven Top LLMs 2025
Out of many LLMs available in the market, here’s a closer look at the best 7 LLMs you should consider exploring:
GPT
GPT, or Generative Pretrained Transformer, is a series of general-purpose LLMs developed by OpenAI for generative AI. It uses a transformed-based deep learning architecture to process and generate human-like text. The first version, GPT-1, introduced in 2018, is a 12-layer decoder-only model, with each having masked self-attention heads to represent a variety of linguistic features. Despite its relatively small size with 117 million parameters, GPT-1 can carry out zero-shot performance on various tasks like text completion, summarization, and basic Q&A.
Following GPT-1, OpenAI released GPT-2 in 2019, which features a much larger architecture with 48 decoder layers and 1.5 billion parameters. GPT-2 performs well in identifying long-range dependencies, which are relationships between words and phrases that are far apart in a sentence or paragraph. It is also good at completing a sentence based on the preceding context.
For advancements, GPT-3, with 96 decoded layers and 175 billion parameters, was launched in 2020. This model is capable of solving arithmetic problems, writing code snippets, and executing intelligent tasks. Its successor, GPT-3.5, enhanced its abilities to understand context and maintain coherent conversations, making it more effective for dialogue-based applications.
With the launch of GPT-4, the model has the ability to process both text and images by utilizing reinforcement learning for refined outputs. In 2024, OpenAI launched its high-intelligence language model GPT-4o for multi-step problem-solving tasks, which is much faster and cheaper than the GPT-4 architecture.
On December 21st, 2024, the platform announced its o3 series to tackle advanced reasoning tasks. However, these models are undergoing testing, with early access available only to safety and security researchers, and are expected to be publicly released in 2025.
Gemini
Gemini is Google’s largest and most capable AI model. It is designed to process text, images, and audio data simultaneously. The Gemini model’s advanced multimodal reasoning capabilities enable it to analyze complex written and visual information. The model can also help interpret and generate high-quality code across popular programming languages like Java, Python, C++, and Go.
The first version of Gemini 1.0 has been optimized for three different sizes: Ultra, Pro, and Nano. Ultra is the Gemini’s most advanced model for performing highly complex tasks. This model has outperformed 30 out of 32 leading academic benchmarks, including MMLU, Big-Bench Hard, DROP, MATH, HumanEval, Natural2Code, and more. Ultra notably scored 90% on the MMLU benchmark, surpassing human experts. It also achieved the highest percentage on the MMMU benchmark for handling multimodal reasoning.
Before developing the Ultra model, Google launched Gemini Pro to scale across various tasks. Using Gemini Pro, Google introduced a more advanced code generation solution, AlphaCode 2, for solving programming challenges.
Claude
Claude is an LLM developed by Anthropic. It is trained to be a helpful and harmless AI assistant. While prioritizing safety, Claude engages users in natural, conversational interactions.
Claude possesses several capabilities, including advanced reasoning, which enables the model to deal with complex cognitive tasks. It can also transcribe and process various static images, ranging from handwritten notes and graphs to photographs. Additionally, Claude enables you to write code, create websites in HTML and CSS, convert images into structured JSON data, and debug complex codebases.
Apart from these capabilities, Claude features three different models—Haiku, Sonnect, and Opus—tailored to speed and performance. Haiku is the fastest Claude model, allowing you to run lightweight tasks with high speed. Conversely, Sonnet balances performance and speed, making it excellent for high-throughput operations. On the other hand, the most powerful model, Opus, can handle complex analysis and long math as well as coding challenges.
LLaMA
LLaMA (Large Language Model Meta AI), developed by Meta in 2023, is a family of open and efficient foundation language models to advance conversational AI. These models are trained on trillions of tokens in publicly available datasets and range in size from 7 billion to 65 billion parameters. Its 13B parameter model, LLaMA-13B, outperforms 175B GPT-3 on most NLP benchmarks. However, LLaMA had fewer parameters, which sometimes made it struggle with precise text understanding and provide inconsistent responses.
Meta then launched Llama 2, a set of pre-trained and fine-tuned LLM that are trained on 2 trillion text tokens to better understand the language. Llama 2 could read longer text passages with a doubled context window of 4,096 tokens to decrease inconsistencies. Despite these improvements, LLama 2 still needed more computing power, enabling Meta to focus on developing LLama 3.
Llama 3 released four versions, including 8b, 8b instruct, 70b, and 70b instruct. These models are trained on 15 trillion tokens, and over 5% of that training data can be represented in 30 different languages. All versions can run on different types of devices and handle longer passages with an 8K token limit.
Gemma
Gemma is a set of lightweight, text-to-text, and decoder-only LLMs. It is trained on a vast dataset of text, code, and math content using the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) hardware and Google’s ML Pathways with JAX. Gemma was developed by Google DeepMind in mid-2024 using the same research and technology behind Google’s Gemini models.
The initial Gemma release comes in 2B and 7B parameter sizes. Both versions are available to run in your applications and on your hardware. You can also customize the behavior of the models with additional training to perform specific tasks.
To support different needs, Gemma models are available in instruction-tuned (IT) and pre-trained (PT). The IT models are fine-tuned with human conversations to respond to user input, like a chatbot. In contrast, PT models are trained only on the Gemma core dataset and lack specific task instructions. For the best results, you must fine-tune the PT models before they are deployed into applications.
Following this, DeepMind released CodeGemma, RecurrentGema, and PaliGemma models for coding, memory-efficient tasks, and advanced image processing, respectively. With the release of Gemma 2 PT models, improved performance has been shown in natural language understanding and reasoning tasks across various benchmarks. These models are optimized in three parameter sizes—2B, 9B, and 27B. The team reported that the 2B Gemma 2 version outperforms all GPT-3.5 models on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena Leaderboard.
Command R
Command R, introduced by Cohere in 2024, is a series of highly scalable LLMs with top-tier performance. It is paired with Cohere Embed, a multimodal embedding model, and Rerank, a tool to improve search quality. This combination provides strong accuracy for advanced AI applications that need data from documents and enterprise sources.
One of the major abilities of Command is that it allows you to develop applications that speak fluently to the business world in 10 different languages. Based on BLEU, a popular machine translation quality metric, Command R has better quality than Claude Sonnet and GPT-4 Turbo. This conclusion is drawn from evaluations conducted using two test sets of Flores and WMT23.
With the release of Command R+, you can deliver safe and reliable enterprise-grade solutions, as it is optimized for advanced Retrieval-Augment Generation (RAG). This new model enhances the accuracy of responses and offers in-line citations to effectively reduce hallucinations. It also helps upgrade AI applications, transforming simple chatbots into powerful, robust AI agents and productive research-oriented tools.
Falcon
Falcon is a generative LLM launched by the UAE’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII). The initial version, Falcon-40B, is a foundation language model with 40 billion parameters and was trained on a trillion tokens.
The Falcon-40B version features a decoder-only architecture, which is optimized for high-speed inference through FlashAttention and multi-query. FlashAttention is a memory-efficient technique that accelerates attention calculations, allowing the model to focus on relevant patterns more quickly without affecting accuracy. Contrarily, multi-query enables faster processing by having a single attention head shared across multiple queries. This reduces the memory needed to handle each query individually.
Alongside, you can explore Falcon 180B, a 180 billion parameter-sized casual decoder-only model trained on 3,500 billion tokens. With a high parameter count and optimized infrastructure, Falcon-180B can handle large-scale, resource-intensive enterprise applications. If you are looking for smaller and less expensive models, the Falcon-7B is the best, and it is trained on 1500 tokens.
Selecting the Right Open-Source LLM for Your Needs
Choosing the appropriate open-source LLM depends on your specific requirements. Consider the following factors:
- Model Size: Select a model that aligns with your computational resources and performance needs. Smaller models like LLaMa-2B are more efficient for environments with limited resources. On the other hand, larger models like LLaMA-7B or GPT variants are excellent for handling complex operations with high accuracy.
- Task Suitability: Different models are optimized for different tasks. Ensure the model is ideal for your use case, whether it’s chatbots, text generation, or specialized research applications.
- Customization: Some open-source models allow fine-tuning and further customization to fit your unique needs, such as industry-specific terminology or proprietary datasets.
- Community Support: Opt for models with strong community support and active development, which can provide updates, bug fixes, and additional resources.
Use Cases of LLM Models
- Healthcare: LLMs are helpful for automating patient inquiries, generating medical reports, assisting in diagnostics, and scheduling doctor appointments. Studies have shown that AI models, including LLMs, can reduce the time spent on administrative tasks.
- Multimodal Document Understanding: A team at JP Morgan has launched DocLLM, a layout-aware generative language model for multimodal document understanding. This model uses bounding box information to process the spatial arrangement of elements in the documents.
Conclusion
LLMs are transformative AI solutions that enhance tasks such as customer service, content generation, and coding assistance across various industries. However, you must be aware of their limitations, including the potential for inaccuracies and privacy concerns. By leveraging LLMs responsibly and understanding their capabilities, your organizations can maximize the benefits while minimizing risks.
FAQs
Are LLMs safe to use?
Most LLMs include robust safety measures to minimize harmful outputs. However, you should remain cautious about relying entirely on LLMs for critical decisions.
Can LLMs be fine-tuned for specific applications?
Yes, you can fine-tune the LLM with additional training on specialized datasets to improve their performance in targeted applications.
