4 ms·
Open weights models, not open source. And even their weights are under a specific license not as permissive as apache 2.
by ekianjo 1y ago
Open weights models, not open source. And even their weights are under a specific license not as permissive as apache 2.
- drexlspivey 1y agoDoes an “open source” model the way you describe it exist or is it a mythical creature?
- kaufmann 1y agoApertus by EPFL and ETH Zürich.
- qcoret 1y agoUnicorns also don't exist, but we don't change the definition to include horses.
- omneity 1y agoThere aren’t many but they do exist. OLMo for example.
- Rattled 1y agoOlmo by AllenAI and Pythia by EleutherAI.
- ayewo 1y agoAn open source model does exist now [1] and is multilingual. Previous discussion [2]. [1] https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2025/07/a-language-model-built-for-the-public-good.html https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2025/07/a-l... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44535637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44535637
- CaptainOfCoit 1y agoIt does, but does it matter? Even if every software released in 2025 was proprietary, doesn't make their published binaries "open source" because no other software could be classified as "open source". We name things based on what they are, not based on the lack of other things.
- ekianjo 1y agoI believe it does. OLMO.
- HPsquared 1y agoThis is the right terminology. Model weights are literally compiled binary data; they are the output of an algorithm run on a bunch of source data. That training dataset is the "source" of the model. Training data (or the scripts used to generate it) is human-readable and modifiable, like source code. Binary weights are not.
- carom 1y agoJust to note though, source copyright extends to its compiled form. There is probably an analogue there for model weights.
- jeremyjh 1y agoTell me about the companies that own the copyrights to their training data.
- phkahler 1y agoBinary weights can still be "edited" with additional training.
- sdeframond 1y agoI propose that from now on we call freewares "open binaries".
- hippo22 1y agoI'm not a lawyer, but I believe that the weights aren't subject to copyright. So, you can use them outside of Meta's license agreement provided you get them from somewhere else.