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How Hugging Face Model Hosting Works

Hugging Face provides a platform where machine learning models (for NLP, vision, audio, etc.) can be hosted and accessed via APIs. Here’s an overview of how it works:

Who Hosts the Models?​

  • Hugging Face Hub: The models are hosted on the Hugging Face Hub, a cloud-based repository managed by Hugging Face.
  • Model Creators: Anyone (individuals, research labs, companies) can upload their pre-trained models to the hub.

How Models Are Made Public​

  • Model Upload: When a user uploads a model, they choose the visibility: public (anyone can access) or private (restricted access).
  • Public Models: The majority of models are set to public by their creators to encourage sharing, collaboration, and reproducibility.
  • Private Models: These are only accessible to the uploader or with explicit permission.

API Access​

  • Inference API: Hugging Face provides a hosted Inference API, allowing users to send data (e.g., text, images) and receive predictions from models without running them locally.
  • Endpoints: Each model has a unique API endpoint, documented on its Hugging Face page.

Why Make Models Free?​

  • Community Contribution: Many researchers and organizations want to share their work for recognition, citation, or to benefit the community.
  • Promotion: Sharing models increases visibility and can help promote new research or technology.
  • Open Science: Free access supports open science, reproducibility, and collaboration.
  • Freemium Model: Hugging Face offers free access with usage limits; paid plans provide higher usage and premium features.

Summary Diagram​

flowchart LR
    User -- Uploads Model --> HuggingFaceHub
    HuggingFaceHub -- Hosts Model --> Cloud
    Cloud -- API Requests --> User
    User -- Accesses Public Model --> API

Further Reading​