The Case for Compact AI

Reading the Communications March 2025 issue, it struck me how many articles assume large language models (LLMs) are the inevitable and best future path for artificial intelligence (AI). Here, I encourage readers to question that assumption. To be clear: I use LLMs, a lot, for solo and tactical tasks such as condensing my arguments into this editorial response. But for strategic tasks that might be critiqued externally, I need other tools that are faster, simpler, and whose reasoning can be explained and audited. So while I do not want to replace LLMs, I want to ensure we are also supporting and exploring alternatives. In software engineering (SE), very few researchers explore alternatives to LLMs.