# Aikido Security releases Altar-1: a 328 GB security model from GLM-5.3

Digest AI · Research · published 2026-09-25T15:14:45Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/aikido-security-releases-altar-1-a-328-gb-security-model-from-glm-5-3

## Summary

Aikido Security launched Altar-1, its first open-weight security model derived from Z.AI’s GLM-5.3. The model compresses GLM-5.3’s 753B-parameter mixture-of-experts architecture to 328 GB by pruning 34.4% of experts and quantizing weights to 4 bits. It retains 168 of 256 routed experts per layer, with 8 active per token, and runs on a single node of 4x NVIDIA H200 GPUs using vLLM.

Altar-1 powers Aikido Machine, an autonomous pentesting tool for on-prem and air-gapped networks. Aikido claims it achieves 92% of GLM-5.3’s CVE coverage with a 1-point recall drop, based on an internal benchmark of 32 known vulnerabilities. The model also found a critical-severity vulnerability during a client’s production pentest. Deployment requires Hopper GPUs, and the GLM-5.3 license permits commercial use with a review clause for operators exceeding $10B in annual revenue.

## Key points

- Aikido Security pruned GLM-5.3 to 328 GB, a 78.2% reduction from its parent model’s size
- Altar-1 runs on 4x NVIDIA H200 GPUs with vLLM, supporting air-gapped networks
- Recall drops from 65.6% to 60.4% while maintaining 92% of GLM-5.3’s CVE coverage

## Why it matters

Altar-1 lets organizations run large security models on-premises without cloud dependencies, addressing data-residency concerns for banks and OT operators. Its pruning method may help other labs balance size and performance in constrained environments.

## Sources

1. [Aikido Security Releases Altar-1: An Open-Weight Security Model Pruned From GLM-5.3 to 328 GB](https://marktechpost.com/2026/09/25/aikido-security-releases-altar-1-an-open-weight-security-model-pruned-from-glm-5-3-to-328-gb) (MarkTechPost, 2026-09-25)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Aikido Security releases Altar-1: a 328 GB security model from GLM-5.3", 25 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/aikido-security-releases-altar-1-a-328-gb-security-model-from-glm-5-3

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