# Frontier model

Concept · [Building with AI](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai)

Also called: frontier models, frontier AI, frontier lab, frontier labs, AI lab, AI labs, state of the art model, SOTA

One of the most capable general-purpose [AI models](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/model) available at a given time. The set changes as the field advances. The companies that build these models are informally called frontier labs.

**For example:** A frontier lab [releases](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/deployment) a new model. Before switching, a product's [developer](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/software-engineer) runs the team's [evals](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/evals) on the new model and the current one.

## Connects to (12)

- [Model](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/model): The trained system at the center of an AI product.
- [LLM](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/llm): Large language model.
- [Benchmark](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/benchmark): A shared, public test used to score different models on the same tasks so they can be compared.
- [Open source vs open weights](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/open-source-vs-open-weights): Two labels for AI models that people often mix up.
- [Claude](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/claude): An AI chat assistant made by Anthropic.
- [ChatGPT](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/chatgpt): An AI chat assistant made by OpenAI.
- [Gemini](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/gemini): Google's AI chat assistant, which people type or talk to.
- [Model provider](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/model-provider): The company or service that runs an AI model and answers requests to it, usually over the internet through an API.
- [AI safety](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-safety): The work of making AI systems behave safely and of measuring how safe they are.
- [Grok](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/grok): An AI chat assistant made by xAI.
- [Artificial Analysis](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/artificial-analysis): An independent company that tests and compares AI models and providers on quality, speed and price, and publishes the results.
- [Google DeepMind](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/google-deepmind): Google's AI research team, formed by combining Google Brain and DeepMind.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/frontier-model