Release96 comments in the community
Baidu released ERNIE 5.5 Flash Base
Hacker News: Front Page · By pretext ·
The Brief
- Baidu released ERNIE 5.5 Flash Base, according to a Hacker News front-page post dated 2026-11-05; the post has no summary and the linked Baidu page is the only primary source.
- Commenters say the model has 280B total parameters with 14B active, and that it is a base model that is not fine-tuned to follow instructions.
- The license reportedly excludes the European Union, the United Kingdom and South Korea, and makes derivative users responsible for preventing use there.
Why it matters
Developers who want to fine-tune or run a base model locally get a new option, but the reported license terms may block use in some regions and the model is not instruction-tuned.
Who’s affected
- Teams fine-tuning open base models
- Organisations in the European Union, United Kingdom or South Korea, which the license reportedly excludes
What to do
- Read the license terms, which commenters say exclude the European Union, the United Kingdom and South Korea, before building on the model
- ERNIE 5.5 Flash Base
- #llm
- #base-model
- #baidu
- #ernie
- #licensing
What developers are saying
Based on 96 comments · Mixed reactions
Commenters are split. Some welcome a new base model and say it may outperform comparable models, while others criticise the model as not instruction-tuned, its restrictive license and the ERNIE name, which one commenter says feels dated. Several commenters ask practical questions about trying the model and training it on a multi-node cluster.
- Welcome for base model release25%
- Restrictive license terms20%
- Performance versus peers15%
- Not instruction-tuned15%
- Dated ERNIE branding10%
- Training and framework questions15%
In favour
- + Base model releases are valued for custom training and alignment work
- + Commenters say the model may outperform Qwen3.8-27B and DeepSeek-v4-Flash
- + The reported size could fit on 2x128GB hardware at 4-bit or higher quantization
Concerns
- − The model is only a base model and not fine-tuned to follow instructions
- − The license is restrictive and excludes the European Union, the United Kingdom and South Korea
- − The ERNIE name and branding feel dated
“Base models are also excellent for businesses who run models locally, as they can be trained in various house rules and house styles.”
“The license seems really restrictive for something intended to be built on.”
“it's only a base model, not finetuned to follow instructions.”
Timeline
Release reported on Hacker News front page (exact release date not stated in sources)
Hacker News: Front Page
Baidu released ERNIE 5.5 Flash Base
Hacker News
178 points · 96 comments