OpenAI argues that open-sourcing powerful foundation models would be dangerous because they could be misused. But when it comes to its top-tier model, GPT-4, open source is not an option, Altman has said. OpenAI has released its own open source models in the past and it may release more in the future.

Llama 2 can also be downsized so it can run on low-power devices, which could cut costs and increase speed. That means companies, individuals and researchers can use it any way they wish, including by fine-tuning it for their own purposes, something that is not possible with OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. The pressure on OpenAI intensified after last week, when Meta released a competing AI model called Llama 2 that is distinct from OpenAI in one major way: It’s open source. But even with that solution, companies would still be required to send some data to Microsoft in order to utilize OpenAI models. Microsoft does offer a “hybrid cloud” option to customers, where companies can take advantage of the cloud while storing sensitive data on local servers. Some companies, like Morgan Stanley, send data directly to OpenAI, which does not use it to train its AI models. It’s unclear how many customers fall into that bucket.

And companies that would rather build their own servers instead of paying cloud computing costs might opt for alternatives. They are also paying for the cloud computing costs for each query.įor companies with sensitive data or that can’t send data to the cloud because of regulatory reasons, OpenAI isn’t an option. Right now, every time customers access OpenAI models, they are sending data to Sam Altman’s company or Microsoft. Spokespeople from OpenAI and Microsoft declined to comment. But it is technically feasible, this person said.

Creating such solutions would pose some challenges, particularly around OpenAI’s intellectual property. But Microsoft would allow OpenAI models to be offered “on premises” in which customers build their own servers.

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