Open-source vs closed-source AI models
Weighing open-weight releases like Llama 4 and DeepSeek R1 against closed models like GPT-5 and Claude.
The AI ecosystem has diverged into two tracks: closed frontier models offered as APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind) and open-weight models you can self-host (Meta's Llama, Mistral, DeepSeek). This guide covers licensing subtleties, when self-hosting saves money and the safety trade-offs on both sides.