Meta bets on device-tied open weight models for AI

The brain work of your AI tasks may not take place in the data centres of your AI platforms. Rather, it will be conducted inside your personal computer.

The world is now getting attracted to open weight models which works on the personal computer of the user.

On the other hand, the current leaders ??? OpenAI, Anthropic are cloud based closed models where the control of the AI is absolutely with the firm and the tasks are processed and performed at the data centres.

Latest development is Meta's decision to try open weight model to compete with Chinese AI models.

The AI market on the bulk consumer segment has two models ??? the first one is the closed weight models including OpenAI's Chat GPT. It works on the developer's infrastructure and allows little customisation for the user.

The other is the open weight model which can be installed into the device of the user. In this case, the AI platform can be customised by the user for his dedicated tasks, and this will work better for agentic purposes.

Meta launched Muse Glimmer as a smaller AI model focusing on customers preferring agentic AI uses. It can be used in PC or Mac with a single graphics card. Muse Glimmer works directly on the customers' devices.

Muse Glimmer being an open weight model questions the higher variable cost or usage fees charged by closed models like ChatGPT. Since its launch, most closed models including Claude are charging exorbitant fees from the customers especially for those working with higher end tasks.

Open weight models can work without sending request to an external server. Similarly, no internet connection is needed for such platforms.

There are apprehensions that closed model user fee may be as high as the labour cost that is replaced by the AI. The open weight model in this context poses a better solution to common users according to Mark Zuckerberg.

The open weight models got the attention of the world when Chinese firm Moonshot's Kimi K3 model was embraced by the users. Other Chinese models also use open weight models to compete with the costly US platforms.

With the entry of Chinese players and the customisable open weight models by western competitors like Meta, the AI market is going to witness severe competition trends in the coming years.