Glossary · Model mechanics
Open weights
Also said as
open-weight modelopen modelopen-source model
Open weights means the model's trained parameters are downloadable, so anyone can run it on their own machine — no account, no permission, no per-use bill.
Why it matters to your business
It's what makes local AI possible at all: open-weight models are the reason a chatbot can run entirely inside your building, where the data never leaves.
The catch · what vendors don't say
Open weights aren't open licensing — one popular image model is downloadable but non-commercial, and security upkeep is yours.
