Today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of Moondream 0.5B, the latest addition to our family of open-source AI models. With only 0.5 billion parameters, Moondream 0.5B is the world's smallest Vision-Language Model (VLM), designed to unlock AI's potential on edge devices and mobile platforms. It builds on the success of its predecessor, Moondream 2B, and is also released under the flexible Apache License, ensuring accessibility for everyone.

tl;dr - New Moondream 0.5B model, runs wicked fast on edge devices: download here.

Compact Size, Big Possibilities

Moondream 2B is already, today, running on mobile devices and Raspberry Pi's, but the download size and inference times can still be challenging for some use cases. Moondream 0.5B is the perfect solution for lightweight edge devices. Quantized to 8-bit, it’s just 479 MiB (compressed) to download and requires a mere 996 MiB of memory to run. At 4-bit quantization, the download size is 375 MiB (compressed) and runtime memory to 816 MiB.

Moondream 0.5B’s diminutive size doesn’t compromise on utility. Here are the benchmarks:

Expanding Horizons: Real-World Applications

This tiny powerhouse unlocks a host of new possibilities across diverse industries:

• Retail: Revolutionize inventory management, personalized shopping experiences, and cashier-less stores.

• Manufacturing: Enhance quality control, defect detection, and robotics navigation.

• Transportation: Power intelligent traffic monitoring, vehicle autonomy, and fleet management systems.

• Security: Deploy lightweight AI for surveillance, anomaly detection, and data privacy at the edge.

And that’s just the beginning. Its adaptability ensures that Moondream 0.5B can meet the demands of countless other verticals.

Performance Meets Practicality

While some specialized use cases might require additional fine-tuning, we’re here to help — just reach out to us at contact@moondream.ai to explore how we can support your specific needs.

Open-Source, Open Future

Like Moondream 2B, Moondream 0.5B’s open-source nature empowers developers and businesses to innovate without constraints. It’s not just about a smaller model—it’s about enabling AI to reach new frontiers, especially where space and power are at a premium.

Ready to Dream Big?

The era of powerful, portable AI has arrived. Moondream 0.5B proves that sometimes, less is more. Download the model today, and let’s build a smarter, more connected world together.