Local Model Family: IBM Granite

IBM Granite is a useful local-model lesson because it makes one trade-off visible: business assistants, governed prototypes, local enterprise demos, and teaching why licensing and provenance matter. The point is not to crown a permanent winner. The point is to learn how to match a model family to hardware, task, license, and risk.

Current source signal

Build the small version

Create a Granite governance checklist for a local business assistant.

1. 1Pick one exact model file or runtime tag from the current model card.
2. 2Run three short prompts: one easy, one task-specific, and one likely failure case.
3. 3Record load time, response speed, memory pressure, answer quality, and one surprising failure.
4. 4Write a one-paragraph recommendation: use it, do not use it, or use it only for a narrow job.

granite_governance_checklist:
  license_checked: yes
  model_card_read: yes
  data_allowed_for_local_use: yes
  private_fields_redacted_from_logs: yes
  human_review_for_external_messages: yes
  eval_set_passed: yes

The big idea: remember governance checklist. Local model work is product design under constraints, not just downloading the model with the loudest leaderboard score.