RecommendersSearch and RAG

BLaIR

Light encoders trained on pairs of item card and real review: they produce item vectors for similar-item blocks and for search by a shopper description. The weights are small and run on an ordinary server.

The last open version came out in May 2024. The family has not been updated for a long time: the model still works, but do not expect fixes or new sizes.

Developer
UC San Diego (McAuley Lab), USA
First release
Mar 2024
Latest release
May 2024
Sizes
125M и 355M
License
Commercial use allowedMIT
Russian
Not supported
Running
On your own serverAlso runs without a GPU
Industries
Retail and marketplaces, Marketing and content, Science and research
Deploy on your server Hugging Face GitHub

What it does

  • A similar-items block based on descriptions
  • Product search from a shopper phrase
  • Suggesting cards for new listings
  • Grouping the assortment by meaning

Where it is used

Online stores and marketplacesCatalogue searchMarketing and curated lists

Hardware requirements

LaptopLaptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions
fits
1 GPUOne GPU with 16–80 GB — mid-size versions
no versions
ClusterServer with several GPUs — flagship versions
no versions

Versions

  1. BLaIR-games-roberta-base
  2. BLaIR-roberta-base и BLaIR-roberta-large

How to run it

On your own serverWeights are downloaded from Hugging Face and served with vLLM (load and API) or llama.cpp (modest hardware). The model then runs in a closed network with no per-request fees.Hugging Face
How much hardware you needCalculate the VRAM for the model size, context length and number of concurrent requests.Open the hardware calculator

I can set this up end to end: pick the model size, deploy it on your server and connect it to your systems.

Frequently asked questions

Can BLaIR be used in a commercial project?

Yes. License: MIT. It allows commercial use, but it is still worth having a lawyer review the license before launch.

What hardware does BLaIR need?

At minimum: Laptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions. Some versions also run on an ordinary CPU, without a GPU. You can calculate the exact VRAM for your model size and context in the hardware calculator.

Does BLaIR support Russian?

No. The developer documentation lists the supported languages and Russian is not among them.

Where can I download BLaIR and what does it cost?

The BLaIR weights are open and free to download. You only pay for the hardware it runs on and for the setup. Source links are at the bottom of this page.

How I deploy it for clients

  1. SelectionI pick the model size for your task and hardware and test it on your examples.
  2. DeploymentI deploy it on your server or in a closed network and provide an API.
  3. Fine-tuningI fine-tune it on your data (LoRA) or connect a knowledge base — whichever is cheaper for the task.
  4. IntegrationI connect it to your CRM, ERP, bot, website or team chat and set up monitoring.

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DetailsRecommendersbeeFormerRecombee · CzechiaCommercial use with conditions

Description encoders trained so that items people actually buy together end up close to each other, not merely items that sound alike. Versions trained on public catalogues are published.

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Models that turn a product photo and its title into a single vector: suitable for a similar-items block, image search and matching by description. Built for retail product cards.

Details

Source: huggingface.co/hyp1231/blair-roberta-base. Data checked against the model card on 22 Sep 2026. Have a lawyer review the license before commercial launch.