Model reference · open weights

instructor-large

Embeddings hkunlp Embeddings 1 build Open weights 137k dl/mo

instructor-large is an open-weight embedding model from hkunlp. instructor-large (BF16) weighs 1.3 GB; the smallest configuration that runs it is RTX 3060 12 GB.

For self-hosting, compare this build's requirements below with the GPU you plan to rent.

  • Instructor-large is a text embedding model developed by hkunlp that generates task-specific embeddings for English text by using natural language instructions.
  • It supports applications such as sentence similarity, information retrieval, and clustering with a context length of 512 tokens.
  • The model is released under the apache-2.0 licence.

Summary of the hkunlp/instructor-large model card, 2026-10-01

What it is

Released byhkunlp
Released2022-12-20
VRAM1.3 GB for the weights

What it runs on

Memory and cards for instructor-large (BF16)

1.3 GBweights, file size
1.1 GBruntime overhead
CardRunsMemory
RTX 3060 12 GBfits11.6 GB
RTX 4060 Ti 16 GBfits15.4 GB
RTX 3090 24 GBfits23.4 GB
RTX 4090 24 GBfits23.4 GB
RTX 5090 32 GBfits31.0 GB
L40S 48 GBfits44.0 GB
A100 80 GBfits78.2 GB
H100 80 GBfits78.1 GB
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell 96 GBfits93.8 GB
DGX Spark (GB10) 128 GB unifiedfits107 GB
H200 141 GBfits138 GB
B200 180 GBfits176 GB

From the model card

What hkunlp says about instructor-large

Read the model card

We introduce Instructor👨‍🏫, an instruction-finetuned text embedding model that can generate text embeddings tailored to any task (e.g., classification, retrieval, clustering, text evaluation, etc.) and domains (e.g., science, finance, etc.) by simply providing the task instruction, without any finetuning. Instructor👨‍ achieves sota on 70 diverse embedding tasks (MTEB leaderboard)! The model is easy to use with our customized sentence-transformer library. For more details, check out our paper and project page!

**************************** Updates ****************************

Quick start

Installation

pip install InstructorEmbedding

Compute your customized embeddings

Then you can use the model like this to calculate domain-specific and task-aware embeddings:

from InstructorEmbedding import INSTRUCTOR
model = INSTRUCTOR('hkunlp/instructor-large')
sentence = "3D ActionSLAM: wearable person tracking in multi-floor environments"
instruction = "Represent the Science title:"
embeddings = model.encode([[instruction,sentence]])
print(embeddings)

Use cases

Calculate embeddings for your customized texts

If you want to calculate customized embeddings for specific sentences, you may follow the unified template to write instructions:

                          Represent the domain text_type for task_objective:

  • domain is optional, and it specifies the domain of the text, e.g., science, finance, medicine, etc.
  • text_type is required, and it specifies the encoding unit, e.g., sentence, document, paragraph, etc.
  • task_objective is optional, and it specifies the objective of embedding, e.g., retrieve a document, classify the sentence, etc.

Calculate Sentence similarities

You can further use the model to compute similarities between two groups of sentences, with customized embeddings.

from sklearn.metrics.pairwise import cosine_similarity
sentences_a = [['Represent the Science sentence: ','Parton energy loss in QCD matter'],
               ['Represent the Financial statement: ','The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate.']]
sentences_b = [['Represent the Science sentence: ','The Chiral Phase Transition in Dissipative Dynamics'],
               ['Represent the Financial statement: ','The funds rose less than 0.5 per cent on Friday']]
embeddings_a = model.encode(sentences_a)
embeddings_b = model.encode(sentences_b)
similarities = cosine_similarity(embeddings_a,embeddings_b)
print(similarities)

Information Retrieval

You can also use customized embeddings for information retrieval.

import numpy as np
from sklearn.metrics.pairwise import cosine_similarity
query  = [['Represent the Wikipedia question for retrieving supporting documents: ','where is the food stored in a yam plant']]
corpus = [['Represent the Wikipedia document for retrieval: ','Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of feudalism, but most feel[who?] that the term "mixed economies" more precisely describes most contemporary economies, due to their containing both private-owned and state-owned enterprises. In capitalism, prices determine the demand-supply scale. For example, higher demand for certain goods and services lead to higher prices and lower demand for certain goods lead to lower prices.'],
          ['Represent the Wikipedia document for retrieval: ',"The disparate impact theory is especially controversial under the Fair Housing Act because the Act regulates many activities relating to housing, insurance, and mortgage loans—and some scholars have argued that the theory's use under the Fair Housing Act, combined with extensions of the Community Reinvestment Act, contributed to rise of sub-prime lending and the crash of the U.S. housing market and ensuing global economic recession"],
          ['Represent the Wikipedia document for retrieval: ','Disparate impact in United States labor law refers to practices in employment, housing, and other areas that adversely affect one group of people of a protected characteristic more than another, even though rules applied by employers or landlords are formally neutral. Although the protected classes vary by statute, most federal civil rights laws protect based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex as protected traits, and some laws include disability status and other traits as well.']]
query_embeddings = model.encode(query)
corpus_embeddings = model.encode(corpus)
similarities = cosine_similarity(query_embeddings,corpus_embeddings)
retrieved_doc_id = np.argmax(similarities)
print(retrieved_doc_id)

Clustering

Use customized embeddings for clustering texts in groups.

import sklearn.cluster
sentences = [['Represent the Medicine sentence for clustering: ','Dynamical Scalar Degree of Freedom in Horava-Lifshitz Gravity'],
             ['Represent the Medicine sentence for clustering: ','Comparison of Atmospheric Neutrino Flux Calculations at Low Energies'],
             ['Represent the Medicine sentence for clustering: ','Fermion Bags in the Massive Gross-Neveu Model'],
             ['Represent the Medicine sentence for clustering: ',"QCD corrections to Associated t-tbar-H production at the Tevatron"],
             ['Represent the Medicine sent

Quoted from the model card on Hugging Face. The full card is behind the Hugging Face link above.

Benchmarks

Reported results

As published on the model card: the maker's own numbers, not measured by AxForge.

TaskDatasetMetricScore
ClassificationMTEB AmazonCounterfactualClassification (en)accuracy88.134
ClassificationMTEB AmazonCounterfactualClassification (en)ap59.298
ClassificationMTEB AmazonCounterfactualClassification (en)f183.318
ClassificationMTEB AmazonPolarityClassificationaccuracy91.526
ClassificationMTEB AmazonPolarityClassificationap88.163
ClassificationMTEB AmazonPolarityClassificationf191.511
ClassificationMTEB AmazonReviewsClassification (en)accuracy47.856
ClassificationMTEB AmazonReviewsClassification (en)f145.415
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamap_at_131.223
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamap_at_1047.947
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamap_at_10048.742
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamap_at_100048.745
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamap_at_343.137
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamap_at_545.992
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamrr_at_132.432
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamrr_at_1048.400
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamrr_at_10049.202
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamrr_at_100049.205
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamrr_at_343.551
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnamrr_at_546.468
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnandcg_at_131.223
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnandcg_at_1057.045
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnandcg_at_10060.175
RetrievalMTEB ArguAnandcg_at_100060.233
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