Open-weight models

Some of the most powerful AI systems in the world are available for anyone to download, run, and build on. Others remain fully proprietary. These open models, which include open-weight releases where a model's core parameters are made public, are getting closer to matching the most capable proprietary systems. Epoch tracks how far behind open models are, how fast the gap is closing, and how quickly frontier AI capabilities become widely accessible.

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Open-weight models lag state-of-the-art by around 3 months on average
Data Insight
Oct. 30, 2025
Open-weight models lag state-of-the-art by around 3 months on average
How far behind are open models?
Report
Nov. 4, 2024
How far behind are open models?
Frontier AI performance becomes accessible on consumer hardware within a year
Data Insight
Aug. 15, 2025
Frontier AI performance becomes accessible on consumer hardware within a year

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Keeping up with the GPTs
Newsletter
Apr. 7, 2026
Keeping up with the GPTs

Can Chinese and open model companies compete with the frontier through e.g. distillation and talent?

By Anson Ho

Open-weight models lag state-of-the-art by around 3 months on average
Data Insight
Oct. 30, 2025
Open-weight models lag state-of-the-art by around 3 months on average

By Luke Emberson

Frontier AI performance becomes accessible on consumer hardware within a year
Data Insight
Aug. 15, 2025
Frontier AI performance becomes accessible on consumer hardware within a year

By Venkat Somala and Luke Emberson

Training open-weight models is becoming more data intensive
Data Insight
Aug. 1, 2025
Training open-weight models is becoming more data intensive

By Venkat Somala and Yafah Edelman

Frontier open models may surpass 1e26 FLOP of training compute before 2026
Data Insight
Jan. 15, 2025
Frontier open models may surpass 1e26 FLOP of training compute before 2026

By Luke Emberson

Models with downloadable weights currently lag behind the top-performing models
Data Insight
Updated Feb. 7, 2025
Models with downloadable weights currently lag behind the top-performing models

By Jean-Stanislas Denain

How far behind are open models?
Report
Nov. 4, 2024
How far behind are open models?

We compare open and closed AI models, and study how openness has evolved. The best open model today is on par with closed models in performance and training compute, but with a lag of about one year.

By Ben Cottier, Josh You, Natalia Martemianova, and David Owen

Almost half of large-scale models have published, downloadable weights
Data Insight
Jun. 19, 2024
Almost half of large-scale models have published, downloadable weights

By Ben Cottier, Josh You, and Natalia Martemianova