Tracks/Track 16 — Executive Playbooks & Guides/16-1
Track 16 — Executive Playbooks & Guides

16-1: How to Deploy Small Language Models (SLMs)

The complete playbook for running local, quantized inference to bypass API monopolization.

3 Lessons~45 min

🎯 What You'll Learn

  • Mastering 4-bit and 8-bit QLoRA strategies
  • Deploying Llama.cpp and Ollama inside enterprise perimeters
  • Cost reduction mapping from GPT-4o to Llama 3 8B
Free Preview — Lesson 1
1

Introduction: The API Margin Tax

Relying exclusively on hyperscalers for LLM inference introduces a permanent Margin Tax on your product. Every request costs compute. By deploying Small Language Models (SLMs) locally, you sever the transaction cost.

Inference Margin

The compounding cost of per-token API billing over a 36-month horizon.

Zero-Cost Edge
📝 Exercise

Identify your three highest-volume AI primitives. Could they be resolved by an 8B perimeter model?

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2 more lessons with hands-on exercises, metric cards, and assessment checklists.

3
Lessons
9+
Exercises
100%
ROI