Open Source AI FAQ: Definitions, Licenses, Models and Tools
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Plain answers to the questions people ask about open source AI: what counts as open, which licenses allow commercial use, and which tools are open.
Plain answers to the questions people ask about open source AI: what counts as open, which licenses allow commercial use, and which tools are open.
The honest case for open models: data control, cost shape, no lock-in, auditability, sovereignty, the real trade-offs, and when proprietary wins.
A reviewed map of open-weight model families by maker, task and size, with licenses, quantization explained, and a way to pick one for your hardware.
What Apache-2.0, MIT, the Llama Community License, Gemma Terms, RAIL and Mistral's licenses actually require, plus a checklist to run before you ship.
Open weights are not open source. The OSI's Open Source AI Definition, the spectrum from OLMo to Llama to closed, and why the difference matters.
Open source AI consulting and guides by Zareef Ahmed: what open source AI means, how model licenses work, and which open models and tools to choose.