# AWS research introduces priming to convert Transformers into hybrid models at under 1% of training cost

> Original title: Same quality, twice the throughput, half the memory. Hybrid models increase LLM efficiency with mechanisms like sparse attention or state...

- Source: Amazon Science
- Published: 2026-10-22T20:29:01.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/gznny1xmr33qmk1fkccg7b1ff
- Original: https://x.com/AmazonScience/status/2113367039922315524

## Summary

AWS researchers introduce priming, a method that reuses pretrained Transformer weights to build hybrid models with sparse attention or state space layers. The post says the approach costs less than 1% of the original training and delivers the same quality with twice the throughput and half the memory. It also states that 8B and 32B models have been released.

## Why it matters

The post links a specific priming method with reported throughput, memory, and training cost figures, making its efficiency claims checkable against the linked research.

## Post

Same quality, twice the throughput, half the memory. Hybrid models increase LLM efficiency with mechanisms like sparse attention or state space layers. New AWS research introduces "priming," which reuses pretrained Transformer weights to build these hybrids at less than 1% of the original training cost. 8B and 32B models released. https://www.amazon.science/blog/can-we-change-an-ai-models-architecture-without-retraining-it-from-scratch?utm_campaign=can-we-change-an-ai-models-architecture-without-retraining-it-from-scratch&utm_medium=organic-asw&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=2026-10-16-can-we-change-an-ai-models-architecture-without-retraining-it-from-scratch&utm_term=2026-october