Open Source AI Is Not Winning — Incumbents Are
<p>Progress in open-source (OS) generative AI (particularly language models, LMs) has exploded in recent months. As a consequence — and with the help of <a href="https://www.semianalysis.com/p/google-we-have-no-moat-and-neither" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">desperate internal confessions</a> — people believe it has become a threat to incumbent companies like Google and Microsoft, and leading labs like OpenAI and Anthropic.</p>
<p>I think I speak for the majority when I say that, leaving aside that open-sourcing AI systems indiscriminately could <a href="https://thealgorithmicbridge.substack.com/p/gpt-4chan-the-worst-ai-ever#%C2%A7the-limits-of-open-source" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">exacerbate risks</a>, we like the idea. OS has a strong <a href="https://twitter.com/ClementDelangue/status/1663231207163805701" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">positive connotation</a>; it’s not that people dislike Big Tech but that we like when The People has the opportunity to outdo the powerful.</p>
<p>Here’s the story of how that feeling of anticipated victory came to be and why, sadly, it’s mistaken: OS AI <em>is</em> <em>thriving</em> but remains unable to dethrone the leadership of proprietary models — and unable to develop the resources to do so in the future.</p>
<p><a href="https://albertoromgar.medium.com/open-source-ai-is-not-winning-incumbents-are-61cd7779366"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>