open weights

US companies are increasingly adopting cheaper 'open' AI models rather than relying solely on expensive proprietary systems from major AI providers. The Financial Times reports that businesses see open-weight models as a way to cut costs while retaining more control and flexibility. The trend reflects growing price pressure on enterprise AI spending and improving performance of openly available models.

Companies are increasingly adopting open-weight AI models as a way to manage the heavy costs of proprietary technology. With licensing fees and computing expenses climbing, open-weight alternatives offer firms more control and lower spending. The trend suggests a shift in how businesses balance cutting-edge AI capabilities against budget pressures, drawing attention across the tech and finance sectors.

Chinese AI lab StepFun has unveiled Step 5 Preview, a sparse mixture-of-experts model with roughly 600 billion total parameters and about 27 billion active per token. The model supports a one million token context window and is designed for long-horizon agent work, with open weights. Observers are noting the specifications and what the release means for competition among Chinese AI labs and open-weight model development.

A new publication examines the economics of open-weight AI inference, looking at what it actually costs to run openly available large language models and how that compares with closed, hosted alternatives. Readers are debating the cost structure, infrastructure demands, and whether open-weight models can compete commercially with proprietary offerings.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has publicly dismissed renewed speculation about his future at the team. The talk intensified after former Red Bull boss Christian Horner openly named Ferrari as a potential route back into Formula 1. Vasseur's response signals his insistence that he remains in charge and that the paddock gossip carries no weight.