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

# Open-weight model

What does “Open-weight model” mean?

Open-weight modelSee open model.

[Open model](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/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. *Chapter 1.*

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

## Sources that use it

- Kelly Hong and Greg Burnham, “Can AI automate Epoch?,” Epoch AI, 8 October 2026 (six models given “real work tasks from Epoch,” “11 tasks across five diverse categories” as of launch, graded “against our own employee standards”; “Open-weight models lag further behind.”; “This capability gap is larger than existing benchmark scores suggest.”; its own limits, “we run each model only once per task” and “Scores are therefore noisy and may shift with more runs”; read in the page as served 24 October 2026). [In the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources/research#epoch-automate-epoch-oct26)

## Related terms

- [Open model](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/open-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)