Someone's Gotta Keep Up with It

To Include
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ℹ️
The pace of change is happening at greater and greater speeds. It feels like a neverending whirlwind.

Every few months

Since the launch of GPT-3 in June 2020, major “shake-up” AI models that significantly impact developers have been released roughly every 6–12 months, sometimes even more frequently in recent years [0sn4rl] [93ow3w] [le0xqp] [w1hax6] [ho7gd7] [34oscb] [r1z5tc] . This trend has accelerated notably since 2023, with several key releases annually and intensified competition from Chinese tech giants and indie labs.

Why These Models Matter

  • Context expansion: Each new model often brings substantial increases in context window or memory, which directly affects app design and prompts developers to rework interfaces and backend systems [kcj7tj] [o68b8j] [le0xqp] [34oscb] .
  • Multimodal capabilities: When multimodal models like GPT-4, Gemini, or LLaMA 4 drop, developers rapidly pivot to add image, audio, or video inputs and outputs [kcj7tj] [o68b8j] [on3lm5] .
  • API and performance changes: Updates like GPT-4 Turbo or Mixtral deliver new pricing, latency, and reliability considerations that force app and infrastructure architecture updates [bb1c1k] [34oscb] .
  • Safety/Guardrails: Major releases from Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI often push new standards in prompt engineering and model alignment, driving quick policy and app modifications [c298wc] [ho7gd7] [9gjfmr] .
  • Open-source releases: When powerful models become openly available (e.g., LLaMA, Mistral, DeepSeek, OpenAI’s GPT-OSS series), developers globally reassess their stacks given lowered cost and increased flexibility [50assh] [34oscb] [ql0lve] [39b1k7] .
  • Global developer “shake-up” events: There have been at least 2–4 globally influential releases per year since mid-2023, with 2024 and 2025 showing increasing frequency (every 3–6 months) [ho7gd7] [34oscb] [on3lm5] [r1z5tc] .
  • Regional waves: With Chinese (DeepSeek, ERNIE, Qwen), UAE (Falcon), and indie European labs (Mistral), the pace is only quickening—often with effects on developers localized by language, cost, or API adoption [dm2yar] [4v3cls] [r1z5tc] [34oscb] .

Overall Estimate

A major, developer-impacting AI model comes out on average every 3–6 months as of 2024–2025, with some cycles seeing monthly shifts due to cascading open-source and region-specific breakthroughs [34oscb] [cpire1] [on3lm5] [ho7gd7] . Most notable disruptions require engineers to rapidly adapt tools, prompts, workflows, and sometimes entire products.
ℹ️
If working with AI, developers should expect fundamental changes at least twice per year, and often much more frequently.

Media

https://youtu.be/ZTPrbAKmcdo?si=Zk8Zv8S4hqRMVS2p
https://github.blog/changelog/2025-06-17-visual-studio-17-14-june-release/

AI Model Series Release Timeline: From GPT-3 to Present

This comprehensive timeline tracks major AI model series releases from the launch of GPT-3 onwards, including major Chinese models and recognized indie models with their official blog announcement links.

Complete Timeline Table

ModelCompanyRelease DateBlog Announcement LinkDescription
CPM-1BAAI/TsinghuaMay 2020https://cpm.baai.ac.cn/First large Chinese model 2.6B
GPT-3OpenAIJune 11, 2020 [yuvqy4] [r11zsk] https://openai.com/index/openai-api/Original GPT-3 with 175B parameters
Wu Dao 1.0BAAIMarch 2021https://wudao.baai.ac.cn/Multimodal Chinese model
Wu Dao 2.0BAAIJune 1, 2021 [zoej3v] https://wudao.baai.ac.cn/1.75T parameter model
GPT-J-6BEleutherAIJune 2021 [zoej3v] https://blog.eleuther.ai/gpt-j/6B open-source model
ERNIE 3.0BaiduJuly 2021 [zoej3v] https://wenxin.baidu.com/Chinese language foundation
Midjourney v1MidjourneyFebruary 2022 [d3bclz] https://www.midjourney.com/Discord-based generation
GPT-NeoX-20BEleutherAIFebruary 9, 2022 [ozhy1a] [1whs3f] https://blog.eleuther.ai/announcing-20b/20B parameter model
DALL-E 2OpenAIApril 6, 2022 [d3bclz] https://openai.com/dall-e-2/Improved image generation
BLOOMBigScienceJuly 12, 2022 [aib1rv] [o1gtnw] https://bigscience.huggingface.co/blog/bloom176B multilingual model
Stable Diffusion 1.5Stability AIAugust 22, 2022 [gwwcd2] https://stability.ai/news/stable-diffusion-public-releaseOpen-source text-to-image
Midjourney v4MidjourneyNovember 2022 [d3bclz] https://www.midjourney.com/Major improvement
Stable Diffusion 2.0Stability AINovember 24, 2022 [d3bclz] https://stability.ai/news/stable-diffusion-v2-releaseImproved model
GPT-3.5OpenAINovember 30, 2022 [czl8su] [jxl2x1] https://openai.com/index/new-models-and-developer-products-announced-at-devday/Includes ChatGPT and text-davinci-003
LLaMA 1MetaFebruary 24, 2023 [oz1pr0] [si2xmp] https://ai.meta.com/blog/large-language-model-llama-meta-ai/Open research model
Claude 1AnthropicMarch 2023 [nljyt2] https://www.anthropic.com/news/introducing-claudeFirst Constitutional AI model
Midjourney v5MidjourneyMarch 2023 [d3bclz] https://www.midjourney.com/Photorealistic quality
ChatGLMTsinghua/ZhipuMarch 2023https://chatglm.cn/Bilingual conversational model
KimiMoonshot AIMarch 2023https://kimi.moonshot.cn/Long context model
GPT-4OpenAIMarch 14, 2023 [pix46i] [beb80l] https://openai.com/index/gpt-4-research/Multimodal LLM with vision capabilities
PaLM 2GoogleMay 10, 2023 [0gi5pf] https://blog.google/technology/ai/google-palm-2-ai-large-language-model/Powers Bard
Falcon-7BTIIJune 2023https://falconllm.tii.ae/UAE open-source model
Falcon-40BTIIJune 2023https://falconllm.tii.ae/40B parameter variant
Claude 2AnthropicJuly 11, 2023 [d3bclz] https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-2Improved context and safety
LLaMA 2MetaJuly 18, 2023 [oz1pr0] https://ai.meta.com/blog/llama-2/Commercial open-source release
Stable Diffusion XLStability AIJuly 26, 2023 [d3bclz] https://stability.ai/news/sdxl-09-stable-diffusionHigh-resolution generation
DoubaoByteDanceAugust 2023https://www.doubao.com/Multimodal AI assistant
Qwen (Tongyi Qianwen)AlibabaSeptember 2023 [hcajs1] https://qianwen.aliyun.com/Multilingual model family
Mistral 7BMistral AISeptember 27, 2023 [n2trtc] https://mistral.ai/news/announcing-mistral-7b/High-performance 7B model
DALL-E 3OpenAIOctober 2023 [d3bclz] https://openai.com/dall-e-3Latest image model
ERNIE 4.0BaiduOctober 17, 2023 [zoej3v] https://cloud.baidu.com/article/2934857GPT-4 competitive model
GPT-4 TurboOpenAINovember 6, 2023 [knexj4] https://openai.com/index/new-models-and-developer-products-announced-at-devday/128K context window
Mixtral 8x7BMistral AIDecember 11, 2023 [n2trtc] https://mistral.ai/news/mixtral-of-experts/Mixture of Experts
Gemini 1.0GoogleDecember 6, 2023 [0gi5pf] https://blog.google/technology/ai/google-gemini-ai/Ultra, Pro, and Nano variants
Midjourney v6MidjourneyDecember 2023 [d3bclz] https://www.midjourney.com/Enhanced capabilities
GLM-4Zhipu AIJanuary 2024https://www.zhipuai.cn/Enhanced GLM series
Gemini 1.5GoogleFebruary 15, 2024 [0gi5pf] https://blog.google/technology/ai/google-gemini-next-generation-model-february-2024/1M token context window
Mistral LargeMistral AIFebruary 26, 2024 [n2trtc] https://mistral.ai/news/mistral-large/Flagship model
Claude 3 (Haiku/Sonnet/Opus)AnthropicMarch 4, 2024 [0wapg4] https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-3-familyMultimodal family of models
Command RCohereMarch 2024https://cohere.com/blog/command-rRAG-optimized model
Command R+CohereApril 2024https://cohere.com/blog/command-r-plus-microsoft-azureEnhanced version
LLaMA 3MetaApril 18, 2024 [86bpyk] https://ai.meta.com/blog/meta-llama-3/8B and 70B parameters
DeepSeek-V2DeepSeekMay 2024https://www.deepseek.com/Mixture of Experts
GPT-4oOpenAIMay 13, 2024 [sshg25] https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o/Omni-modal model
Falcon 2TIIMay 13, 2024 [vbt9w6] [tq10ub] https://www.tii.ae/news/falcon-2-uaes-technology-innovation-institute-releases-new-ai-model-series-outperforming-metas11B with VLM capabilities
CodestralMistral AIMay 29, 2024 [n2trtc] https://mistral.ai/news/codestral/Code-specialized model
Stable Diffusion 3Stability AIJune 2024https://stability.ai/news/stable-diffusion-3Advanced architecture
Qwen 2AlibabaJune 2024 [hcajs1] https://qwenlm.github.io/blog/qwen2/Dense and sparse models
Claude 3.5 SonnetAnthropicJune 20, 2024 [me948k] https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-3-5-sonnetEnhanced reasoning capabilities
LLaMA 3.1MetaJuly 23, 2024 [1xbbkj] https://ai.meta.com/blog/meta-llama-3-1/405B flagship model
Mistral Large 2Mistral AIJuly 24, 2024 [n2trtc] https://mistral.ai/news/mistral-large-2407/123B parameter model
Command R 08-2024CohereAugust 2024 [mdc16v] https://cohere.com/blog/command-r-08-2024Updated model
o1 (Reasoning)OpenAISeptember 12, 2024https://openai.com/index/introducing-openai-o1-preview/Reasoning model
Qwen 2.5AlibabaSeptember 2024 [hcajs1] https://qwenlm.github.io/blog/qwen2.5/Enhanced capabilities
LLaMA 3.2MetaSeptember 25, 2024https://ai.meta.com/blog/llama-3-2-connect-2024-vision-edge-mobile/Multimodal and edge models
Stable Diffusion 3.5Stability AIOctober 29, 2024 [qrsn1i] https://stability.ai/news/introducing-stable-diffusion-3-5Enhanced performance
LLaMA 3.3MetaDecember 6, 2024 [zj5cxw] https://ai.meta.com/blog/llama-3-3-70b/70B efficiency improvements
Gemini 2.0GoogleDecember 11, 2024 [0gi5pf] https://blog.google/technology/google-deepmind/gemini-2-0-flash-multimodal/Flash with multimodal capabilities
Doubao 1.5 ProByteDanceDecember 2024https://www.doubao.com/Enhanced professional model
Falcon 3TIIDecember 2024https://falconllm.tii.ae/Multimodal family
Wu Dao 3.0BAAIDecember 2024https://wudao.baai.ac.cn/Next generation model
DeepSeek-V3DeepSeekDecember 26, 2024 [ip97ve] https://api-docs.deepseek.com/news/news1226685B parameter MoE
DeepSeek-R1DeepSeekJanuary 20, 2025 [n1tgc9] https://api-docs.deepseek.com/news/news0120Reasoning breakthrough model
Qwen 2.5-MaxAlibabaJanuary 2025 [hcajs1] https://qwenlm.github.io/blog/qwen2.5-max/Competitive with GPT-4o
Mistral Small 3Mistral AIJanuary 2025 [n2trtc] https://mistral.ai/news/mistral-small-3/24B efficient model
ERNIE 4.5BaiduMarch 16, 2025 [4ymfau] https://cloud.baidu.com/article/ernie45Multimodal native model
ERNIE X1BaiduMarch 16, 2025 [4ymfau] https://cloud.baidu.com/article/erniex1Deep reasoning model
Command ACohereMarch 2025https://cohere.com/blog/command-aAdvanced enterprise model
LLaMA 4 (Scout/Maverick/Behemoth)MetaApril 5, 2025 [n6bgta] [dwv8ck] https://ai.meta.com/blog/llama-4-multimodal-intelligence/Natively multimodal models
Qwen 3AlibabaApril 28, 2025 [hcajs1] [i5xmj2] https://qwenlm.github.io/blog/qwen3/Hybrid reasoning 119 languages
Mistral Medium 3Mistral AIMay 7, 2025 [pr9cgu] https://mistral.ai/news/mistral-medium-3/Enterprise-focused model
Falcon ArabicTIIMay 21, 2025 [w7wo8g] https://falconllm.tii.ae/First Arabic Falcon model
Claude 4 (Opus/Sonnet)AnthropicMay 21, 2025 [4qhz43] [rv1mzc] https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-4Best coding model globally
Falcon-H1TIIMay 21, 2025 [w7wo8g] https://falconllm.tii.ae/Hybrid architecture model
Magistral Small/MediumMistral AIJune 10, 2025 [n2trtc] https://mistral.ai/news/magistral/Reasoning models
Kimi K2Moonshot AIJuly 11, 2025 [gc7ht0] https://kimi.moonshot.cn/Open-weight coding model
Gemini 2.5GoogleJuly 22, 2025 [xe1chk] https://blog.google/technology/ai/gemini-2-5/Enhanced performance model
GLM-4.5Zhipu AIJuly 28, 2025 [v2xtfs] https://www.zhipuai.cn/Agentic AI capabilities
GPT-OSS-120BOpenAIAugust 5, 2025 [eu57n7] https://openai.com/blog/open-source-modelsFirst open-weight models from OpenAI
GPT-5OpenAIAugust 7, 2025 [ot2tn3] https://openai.com/blog/gpt-5Next generation model with reasoning

Key Insights

OpenAI Leadership: Started the modern LLM era with GPT-3 in June 2020, [yuvqy4] followed by consistent innovation through GPT-3.5, [czl8su] GPT-4, [beb80l] and o1 reasoning models. [ot2tn3]
Chinese Innovation: Major players include Baidu (ERNIE series), [4ymfau] Alibaba (Qwen family), [hcajs1] DeepSeek (breakthrough efficiency models), [n1tgc9] and academic institutions like BAAI (Wu Dao series). [zoej3v]
Open Source Movement: EleutherAI pioneered open alternatives with GPT-J and GPT-NeoX, [1whs3f] followed by BigScience BLOOM, [o1gtnw] Meta's LLaMA series, [oz1pr0] and Mistral AI's efficient models. [n2trtc]
Multimodal Evolution: From text-only models to multimodal capabilities, with Google's Gemini, [0gi5pf] OpenAI's GPT-Series Models, [sshg25] and Meta's LLaMA 4 [dwv8ck] leading vision integration.
Indie Success Stories: Mistral AI emerged as a European champion, [n2trtc] TII's Falcon models represent Middle Eastern AI advancement, [w7wo8g] and companies like Cohere focus on enterprise RAG applications.
Recent Trends: 2025 has seen a focus on Reasoning-based-Models models (DeepSeek-R1, [n1tgc9] Claude 4 [rv1mzc] ), efficiency improvements, and the democratization of powerful AI through open-weight releases.

Sources