LLM Observability: The Breakdown

The New Stack Podcast

LLM observability focuses on maximizing the utility of larger language models (LLMs) by monitoring key metrics and signals. Alex Williams, Founder and Publisher for The New Stack, and Janikiram MSV, Principal of Janikiram & Associates and an analyst and writer for The New Stack, discusses the emergence of the LLM stack, which encompasses various components like LLMs, vector databases, embedding models, retrieval systems, read anchor models, and more. The objective of LLM observability is to ensure that users can extract desired outcomes effectively from this complex ecosystem.

Similar to infrastructure observability in DevOps and SRE practices, LLM observability aims to provide insights into the LLM stack's performance. This includes monitoring metrics specific to LLMs, such as GPU/CPU usage, storage, model serving, change agents in applications, hallucinations, span traces, relevance, retrieval models, latency, monitoring, and user feedback. MSV emphasizes the importance of monitoring resource usage, model catalog synchronization with external providers like Hugging Face, vector database availability, and the inference engine's functionality.

He also mentions peer companies in the LLM observability space like Datadog, New Relic, Signoz, Dynatrace, LangChain (LangSmith), Arize.ai (Phoenix), and Truera, hinting at a deeper exploration in a future episode of The New Stack Makers.

Learn more from The New Stack about LLM and observability

Observability in 2024: More OpenTelemetry, Less Confusion

How AI Can Supercharge Observability

Next-Gen Observability: Monitoring and Analytics in Platform Engineering

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