1-bit Bonsai

1-bit Bonsai 8B implements a proprietary 1-bit model design across the entire network: embeddings, attention layers, MLP layers, and the LM head are all 1-bit. There are no higher-precision escape hatches. It is a true 1-bit model, end to end, across 8.2 billion parameters.

Despite being 14x smaller than the 8B (16-bit) full-precision models in its parameter-count class, it performs competitively on standard benchmarks while operating at radically higher efficiency.

That matters because model compression has historically come with painful tradeoffs. Low-bit models often lose too much capability in instruction following, multi-step reasoning, and reliable tool use to serve as the foundation for serious products. In practice, they fall short of being practically deployable.

Bonsai changes that. It shows that 1-bit models do not have to be narrow compromises. They can be capable, production-ready systems in their own right.