>It's slightly weird that some of the companies doing this are VC-backed startups with no obvious business model, but that's hardly the only way to create them.

>It's slightly weird that some of the companies doing this are VC-backed startups with no obvious business model, but that's hardly the only way to create them. If you are a multi hundred-millionaire, do you privately train a model for fun to release for bragging rights and possibly expose yourself directly to some eyewateringly stupid high statutory damage liability? Or do you get a few friends together, funnel your fun money into a protective vehicle that can be sued instead of you, and go to town having fun and maybe making something of it?