IBM's new Granite 4.2 models ride the wave of interest in local LLMs

IBM has released new Granite 4.2 models, available in 3B, 8B, and 30B parameter variants, for local hosting. These decoder-only models feature a 128,000-token context window. The 8B and 30B versions underwent agentic reinforcement-learning for enhanced capabilities like using the terminal, web searching, or external tools, while the 3B model also supports tools but without the same specialized training. Researchers define model reasoning as functional, often via "chain-of-thought," not human-like conscious understanding.