2026-08-03-bitnet-an-autoregressive-language-model-on-the-6502-processor-4a24dc8e02
Tiny language model runs on a 6502-based BBC Micro
Adafruit Blog
EDITOR BRIEF
Matt Beton built a small Mamba-based autoregressive language model and wrote an inference engine to run it on the 8-bit MOS 6502 processor with 32KB of RAM. The project runs on a BBC Micro, showing that a model similar in style to modern language models can operate on 1980s hardware, even if it is not very smart.
INSIGHTS
This is a useful example of how model design and memory limits affect AI systems. A good next step is to study inference, which means using a trained model to make predictions, and then try shrinking a model to fit tight hardware.
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