Comparing the OpenAI API (Beta 2) Library and the Semantic Kernel SDK
Jose Luis Latorre
IT & Dev Community Lead & Software Architect at Swiss Life AG | Generative AI & Agentic AI Engineer & Enthusiast | LinkedIn Learning Course Author | Helping people understand and apply AI | Microsoft AI MVP | Speaker
Preface
I just announced the OpenAI API Library Beta 2 launch (like 16 hours ago) and I've got some questions on what is the difference between it and Semantic Kernel.
Here is my response to Dariusz Kacban and Eamon O'Tuathail , but basically Florian Georg is quite on the spot, as a summarized summary ;) - but let's take a quick look
What is the OpenAI API Library?
The OpenAI API Library provides a convenient way to integrate OpenAI's powerful models into your .NET applications. The library supports the entire OpenAI API, including the latest models like GPT-4o and features such as Chat Completions and Assistants v2 recently launched. It is designed for seamless integration with OpenAI’s services, ensuring fast updates and support for new features. OpenAI itself is also behind it so you can expect timely updates from it.
What is Semantic Kernel SDK?
The Semantic Kernel (SK) SDK is an open-source AI orchestration framework designed to work with a variety of AI models and platforms. It allows developers to build advanced apps that use generative AI with any model and platform, and create AI agents that can integrate existing code from your app with AI capabilities from providers like OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Hugging Face, Microsoft, and much much more. The SK SDK is built to facilitate the creation of complex AI-driven applications by orchestrating plugins and models in a flexible and extensible manner.
Key Differences and Pros
In addition, Semantic Kernel offers full IoC features, you can register a kernel, agents, and other components as services and retrieve them. You can do this with any code but you need to add support for it on your own. Semantic Kernel also offers an Observability layer with full traceability while this is not included in the OpenAI API Library.
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Pros of OpenAI API Library
Pros of Semantic Kernel SDK
Conclusion
The choice between the OpenAI API Library and the Semantic Kernel SDK depends on your specific needs. If your focus is on leveraging the latest features of OpenAI models with ease and speed, the OpenAI API Library is an excellent choice - but you will be tied to OpenAI. However, if you require a versatile, extensible framework capable of integrating multiple AI models and building complex, AI-driven business applications, the Semantic Kernel SDK is the way to go.
It is, as in most decisions, a give-and-take that depends on your priorities. The choice is yours.
But, my choice is Semantic Kernel down ;) - IMHO the benefits outscore the downwards, in short, I can put my hand in the fire that the Semantic Kernel SDK will include this API Library in short and we will have "the best of both worlds".
?? Follow me, José Luis Latorre, for more updates on .NET, Azure & Generative AI. Check out my course, "Semantic Kernel Fundamentals," to dive deeper into the world of AI orchestration with the Semantic Kernel SDK.
#OpenAI #SemanticKernel #DotNet #AI #MachineLearning #MicrosoftBuild2024 #NuGet #Developers #Community #Innovation #GPT4o #AssistantsV2
Product Development Engineer | Full-Stack Developer | AI & Cloud integration
9 个月I was looking for comparision and thinking about the use case where #OpenAI #API best fit into. When I first know about the #OpenAI #API (from the announcement the OpenAI API Library Beta 2 launch). Great article shared.
Web Developer | AI & Blockchain Innovator | Ex-Nokia | Concordia CS Grad | Building Scalable & Intelligent Systems
9 个月The comparison highlights how the OpenAI API Library is great for performance and simplicity, while the Semantic Kernel SDK excels in flexibility and orchestration. It's intriguing to consider integrating both for their strengths.
CEO/CIO greenYng & Co-founder at greenYng & greenYng energY. #YoutúYou #YoudecideYourwasteisVALUE #YoudecideYourwasteisENERGY
9 个月My personal opinion Semantic Kernel ??
Software Architect & Chapter Lead at T-Systems
9 个月Essential reading to understand the differences between both tools, thank you very much Jose Luis!
I like to think of the relationship between Semantic Kernel and the LLMs as somewhat similar to that of ODBC and database engines. Both Semantic Kernel and ODBC give you a uniform programming layer to talk to diverse backends (which may be hosted locally or in the cloud). Just like with ODBC, where as an alternative you could use a database-specific client library that only works with that database; as an alternative to Semantic Kernel you could use the OpenAI .NET client library - that only works with [Azure]OpenAI. Using the alternatives mean your code will be slightly faster and will have some extra backend-specific features; whereas using the uniform programming layer means your code can run with diverse backends and will have access to extra common features built on top of the uniform programming layer