There are a lot of problems solved by tiny models. The huge ones are fun for large programming tasks, exploration, analysis, etc. but there's a massive amount of processing <10GB happening every day. Including on portable devices.

This is great even if it can't ever run Opus. Many people will be extremely happy about something like Phi accessible at lightning speed.

Parameter density is doubling every 3-4 months

What does that mean for 8b models 24mo from now?

Positive results in mice also known as being a promising proof of concept. At this point, anything which deflates the enormous bubble around GPUs, memory, etc, is a welcome remedy. A decent amount of efficient, "good enough" AI will change the market very considerably, adding a segment for people who don't need frontier models. I'd be surprised if they didn't end up releasing something a lot bigger than they have.