How LLMs Are Made / Glossary

Model card

A model card is a short public document released with an AI model, like a nutrition label. It says what the model is for, how it was trained and tested, and its known limits and risks.

Model cards were proposed in 2019. A good one covers the intended uses and the uses to avoid, the training data in broad terms, test results, including how performance differs across groups, known limitations and the safety checks the model went through.

A sister idea, datasheets for datasets, asks dataset creators to document where data came from, how it was collected and what it should be used for.

Model cards help developers pick the right model and help everyone judge a launch. Under the EU AI Act, providers of general-purpose AI models must keep technical documentation and give developers who build on them information about capabilities and limitations.