| --- |
| license: gemma |
| datasets: |
| - NbAiLab/aurora-sft-2512-filtered |
| language: |
| - 'no' |
| - nb |
| - nn |
| base_model: |
| - google/gemma-3-12b-it |
| pipeline_tag: image-text-to-text |
| library_name: transformers |
| tags: |
| - conversational |
| - instruct |
| - experimental |
| --- |
| |
| # Borealis 12B Instruct (Preview) |
|
|
| Release: Jan 31st, 2026. |
|
|
| ## Model summary |
| **NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview** is a **12B-parameter** instruction-tuned **preview** model intended for early testing and feedback. It is an **experiment** and should be treated as pre-release quality. |
|
|
| This model is based on [**google/gemma-3-12b-it**](https://huggingface.co/google/gemma-3-12b-it), and fine-tuned on textual instructions only. |
|
|
| | Size | Transformers | GGUF (quants: `q8_0`, `f16`, `bf16`) | MLX | |
| |---:|---|---|---| |
| | 270M | [NbAiLab/borealis-270m-instruct-preview](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-270m-instruct-preview) | [NbAiLab/borealis-270m-instruct-preview-gguf](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-270m-instruct-preview-gguf) | [NbAiLab/borealis-270m-instruct-preview-mlx](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-270m-instruct-preview-mlx) (32-bit)<br>[NbAiLab/borealis-270m-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-270m-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits) (8-bit) | |
| | 1B | [NbAiLab/borealis-1b-instruct-preview](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-1b-instruct-preview) | [NbAiLab/borealis-1b-instruct-preview-gguf](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-1b-instruct-preview-gguf) | [NbAiLab/borealis-1b-instruct-preview-mlx](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-1b-instruct-preview-mlx) (32-bit)<br>[NbAiLab/borealis-1b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-1b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits) (8-bit) | |
| | 4B | [NbAiLab/borealis-4b-instruct-preview](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-4b-instruct-preview) | [NbAiLab/borealis-4b-instruct-preview-gguf](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-4b-instruct-preview-gguf) | [NbAiLab/borealis-4b-instruct-preview-mlx](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-4b-instruct-preview-mlx) (32-bit)<br>[NbAiLab/borealis-4b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-4b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits) (8-bit) | |
| | 12B | [NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview) | [NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-gguf](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-gguf) | [NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-mlx](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-mlx) (32-bit)<br>[NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits) (8-bit) | |
| | 27B | [NbAiLab/borealis-27b-instruct-preview](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-27b-instruct-preview) | [NbAiLab/borealis-27b-instruct-preview-gguf](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-27b-instruct-preview-gguf) | [NbAiLab/borealis-27b-instruct-preview-mlx](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-27b-instruct-preview-mlx) (32-bit)<br>[NbAiLab/borealis-27b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-27b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits) (8-bit) | |
|
|
| ## Training data |
| Supervised fine-tuning (SFT) uses **NbAiLab/aurora-sft-2512** (not released yet). |
|
|
| ## ⚠️ Safety / alignment disclaimer (important) |
| This is a **preview experiment** and **has not been safety-aligned yet**. The model may produce **harmful, biased, or insensitive** outputs (including content that is offensive, unsafe, or inappropriate). Do not use it for safety-critical or high-stakes applications, and add your own safety mitigations if deploying. |
|
|
| ## Intended use |
| - Norwegian-centric assistant-style tasks (e.g., drafting, summarization, Q&A, light reasoning). |
| - Assesstment of Norwegian writing style and quality. |
| - Early evaluation of behavior, language coverage (Norwegian / Bokmål / Nynorsk), and quality. |
|
|
| ## Limitations |
| - Preview quality; outputs may be unstable and may hallucinate. |
| - Not aligned for safety; may follow harmful instructions or generate problematic content (see disclaimer above). |
|
|
| ## Weights & formats |
|
|
| ### Transformers (original) |
| - **NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview** (safetensors). |
|
|
| ### GGUF quantizations |
| Available in [**NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-gguf**](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-gguf): |
| - `model-q8_0.gguf` |
| - `model-f16.gguf` |
| - `model-bf16.gguf` |
|
|
| Use: |
| ```bash |
| ollama run hf.co/NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-gguf:BF16 |
| ``` |
|
|
| ### MLX (Apple Silicon) |
| Available in [**NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-mlx**](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-mlx) and quantized to [8 bits](https://huggingface.co/NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-mlx-8bits). |
|
|
| Use: |
| ```bash |
| # Install MLX LM |
| uv tool install mlx-lm |
| |
| # Interactive chat REPL |
| mlx_lm.chat --model "NbAiLab/borealis-12b-instruct-preview-mlx" |
| ``` |
|
|
| ## Acknowledgements |
| Thanks to the **Gemma** team at Google for releasing Gemma 3 and to everyone contributing feedback on this preview. |
