Open source models are becoming mainstream as businesses, governments, and startups alike look to lower costs, increase control, and increase flexibility. But as increasingly sophisticated models become more freely available, how do companies see value? And as China’s open model emerges, can American players catch up?
In this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan speaks with Irene Solaiman, chief policy officer and SVP of strategy at Hugging Face, about what startups need to know before building an open model, from choosing the right tools and infrastructure to navigating the tradeoffs that will shape the future of open AI.
Listen to the full episode to hear:
Why startups, businesses, and governments are turning to open AI models to reduce costs, and when it doesn’t make much sense to use the most powerful model. If a model is free to use, who makes money, and whether the companies building the model capture the value it creates. Why does the US need a deep-pocketed company like Nvidia to build an open frontier model that can compete with China, and what will be at stake if the Chinese model becomes the world’s default? Recent attacks on open AI platforms raise difficult questions about how to keep open ecosystems secure without shutting them down.
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