The open–closed AI gap has shrunk to just 4–6 months
Open-Source AI and Open Models Reading List
Nathan Lambert's reading list tracks the open-model debate: why Meta and others release weights, how Chinese labs like DeepSeek, Qwen, and GLM now lead, and why distillation—training on another model's outputs—became 2026's flashpoint. It also covers safety, data-consent decline, and the economics of open versus closed AI.
The open-closed model gap has reduced in recent years, and is now at roughly 4-6 months. The leading open models have all come from Chinese labs since ~2024.