---
title: "Open model: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/open-model
description: "Open model: A model whose weights are published for anyone to download and run, also called an open-weight model. A closed model's weights stay with its maker."
---

# Open model

What does “Open model” mean?

Open modelA model whose weights are published for anyone to download and run, also called an open-weight model. A closed model’s weights stay with its maker. *Chapter 1.*

From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy)

## Where the book uses it

- [Chapter 1 — The Stakes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-1)What the race is for: the belief that a lead in AI can compound into a lasting advantage, how long such leads have actually lasted, and what a trillion dollars a year is being bet against.

## Where the record uses it

- Person [Krishnan, Sriram](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people#krishnan-sriram)

## Sources that use it

- Jack Edwards and Luke Emberson, “Open models lag state-of-the-art closed models by 4 months,” Epoch AI data insight, 29 May 2026 (since January 2026 the most capable open-weight models have lagged frontier closed models by an average of four months; six months under the strict, strictly-higher-ECI criterion; “We find an average ECI gap of 8 points, with a 90% confidence interval of 7 to 11 units”; the gap “is slightly larger than the one we identified in our October 2025 Data Insight, which found that open models lagged by an average of three months between January 2023 and October 2025”). [In the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources/research#epoch-open-closed-gap)

## Related terms

- [Open-weight model](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/open-weight-model)
- [Closed model](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/closed-model)
- [Weights](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/weights)
- [Algorithmic efficiency](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/algorithmic-efficiency)
- [Application layer](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/application-layer)
- [Arsenal behind every arsenal](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/arsenal-behind-every-arsenal)
- [Capital expenditure](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/capital-expenditure)
- [Clocks of diffusion](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/clocks-of-diffusion)
- [Cluster](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/cluster)
- [Epoch AI](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/epoch-ai)
- [Exclusive generation](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/exclusive-generation)
- [Exclusivity of the model](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/exclusivity-of-the-model)

From the glossary of The AI Compute Race.

- [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger)
- [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests)
- [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard)
- [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases)
- [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion)
- [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory)
- [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine)
- [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion)
- [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary)
- [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people)
- [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources)
- [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes)
- [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections)
- [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1)
- [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent)
- [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties)

*The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026.

[About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)