As of last month, open models are winning requests.
Google held #1# on OpenRouter for 51 straight weeks. On Aug 3, DeepSeek passed them. DeepSeek weekly requests grew 12.6x since Sep 2025. We predicted this in v1 of the report. Whoever wins tokens wins requests.
Closed providers' share fell from 54% to 44% since May. The model is a commodity now, and the lock-in has moved up a layer. v1.1 of the State of Open Source AI report is live today.
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Middle powers can win by building "roads", and focusing less on building "engines." @InstituteGC builds on the findings of our recent report The State of Open Source AI to argue for investing in the AI harness.
Read about it here:
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Open models are ~50x cheaper than closed ones.
Mozilla CTO @raffi talks about the economics of open source AI, the "amnesiac" problem with agent memory, and why concentration risk isn't just about who's closed — it's about who's open, too.
Read/watch here:
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The GPT-6 Astra launch just leveled up game development. It also gave Mozilla CTO @raffi Krikorian an idea for an open-weight experiment.
One prompt. Six open-weight models. Four coding harnesses, identical instructions.
Read what happend when he ran it on Owners, Not Renters. Subscribe today.
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In July, we said whoever wins the tokens will eventually win requests as well.
In August, it happened. DeepSeek, an open model, took the top spot for request volume in the market, overtaking Google.
V1.1 of our State of Open Source AI report tracks how people are putting the model to work and where the real value is now.
Get ready, the full report drops next week.
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You don't own the AI you use every day. Most people are renting access that's controlled by a few companies.
Mozilla CTO @raffi sat down with @0xsachi to make the case for a different relationship with technology and the future of open source AI.
Watch the full conversation on @opencommonspod
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We call it a platform for a reason. You go onto someone else's turf to post, to connect with your friends, and then the rug gets pulled out from under you.
My conversation with @raffi, CTO of @mozilla, is live on @opencommonspod.
He scaled Twitter's infrastructure, put the first self-driving cars on the streets of Pittsburgh at Uber, then walked away to rebuild the DNC's cybersecurity after 2016. Now he wants us to be owners of our AI, not renters of it.
Watch, listen, subscribe:
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Want a backstage pass to MozFest 2026?
The call for Mozilla Festival volunteers is now open 🎉 apply now by September 15 and join us and build something better.
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Curious about builders working on open source AI?
Jump in and listen!
Tomorrow's Owners Not Renters Livestream is with @shoemoney4real and Luca Pinchetti, both building open source tooling for the AI world we're living in.
Link to livestream signup 👇
@mozilla @MozillaAI
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Want in on tomorrow's open source AI livestream? Join our "Owners, Not Renters" community here:
What does it take to build an engaged community around open source AI? That’s been the goal for our livestreams. Join our Livestream Tuesday Sept 8th at 11am EST. Details here >>
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Everyone's flocking to ChatGPT and Claude. Very few are asking who actually controls the infrastructure underneath.
@raffi Krikorian believes companies need alternatives to proprietary AI systems where they can customize and control.
Open source is the alternative
Read the full Q&A on @restofworld:
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What happens to your products you build when your AI vendor changes the terms?
Join @raffikrikorian for a conversation with @MatheusPagani77, founder of @VibeSpace_SO, about creating trustworthy AI, developer agency, and the Mozilla State of Open Source AI Report.
Bring your questions for the AMA portion of the event!
Sep 2, 9am ET
RSVP here:
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on august 10, mark zuckerberg published 6,500 words arguing that AI should belong to everyone.
that same day, meta shipped an open-weight model. i downloaded it before i finished reading the essay. so can you.
my @guardian op-ed argues that before you sign the lease on AI that belongs to someone else, ask 3 questions.
can i be evicted? what can i take with me when i leave? who keeps the place standing when the landlord loses interest?
read the full piece 👇
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Really exciting work from @oumi_ai, a proud part of our Ventures portfolio and a big source of excitement about a better AI future.
Enterprise AI is in a wildly paradoxical state 🤔, and we’re reaching the inflection point that will resolve it. 💥
Enterprises want to differentiate with AI, yet rent the same intelligence as their competitors.
Their workflows and expertise are highly specialized, yet they rely on generic models built to be good at everything.
They worry about AI costs, yet pay premium prices for massive models where only a fraction (1%) of the intelligence is relevant to their task. 💸
And they demand control and sovereignty, yet rent the intelligence becoming core to their business.
This is not a sustainable equilibrium.
The next era of enterprise AI is specialized intelligence companies build, own, and compound. And we are at the inflection point of this transition.
That’s the bet we made when we started @oumi_ai two years ago.
Today we’re closing the loop: Oumi can now not only automatically build your specialized AI models, but also deploy them into production, learn from their production experience, and continuously improve them.
The intelligence that your business runs on, becomes your differentiator. Your compounding advantage.
The winners of the next AI era will turn their own data, expertise, and experience into specialized intelligence that nobody else can rent.
Don’t rent your AI. Build it. Own it. Compound it.
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excited to announce that I'll be sitting down with @jonigl for the very first owners not renters community live stream. join us on August 11am, ET. come prepared for a lively discussion about open source ai.
This event is for ONR subscribers only. free to join — just make sure you're subscribed to the owners not renters newsletter.
keep an eye on your inbox for more information.
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'You don't need to drive a Ferrari to go to the supermarket - that would be the most expensive bottle of milk you'll ever buy'
This came up in an interview with @raffi, CTO at @mozilla, where we discussed token economics, but also open source and more.
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Mozilla today joined the Open Secure AI Alliance, started by @nvidia. Actors from across the spectrum, big and small, even strange bedfellows are coming to a conclusion that Mozilla has championed for years: that open source, and openness is the path forward and needs to be defended. We're glad to be a part of this effort and others that bring together champions for an open source future.
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Open-source AI is closing the gap.
Mozilla's latest report finds the average capability gap between the top open and closed AI models has narrowed to just 3.3%, down from more than 8% in early 2024.
What does this mean for the future of AI?
Join @raffi and Rest of World's Deputy Editor Itika Sharma Punit as they unpack the findings, what they reveal about the AI race, and what's happening beneath the headlines.
Watch here:
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The gap between open and closed AI models has shrunk to 3.3% — down from over 8% in early 2024.
Open models are already at parity on coding, instruction-following, and general knowledge. Closed models still lead on reasoning, long-context, and agentic work.
Mozilla CTO @raffi breaks down what's closing the gap — and what isn't — with @restofworld's Itika Sharma Punit.
🎥
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june 12: washington barred any foreign nationals from using anthropic's frontier AI model.
anthropic couldn't verify user nationality in real time, so the model went dark. for everyone.
my @WSJopinion op-ed: ai shouldn't require a permission slip.
the defining question for the future of AI isn't leaderboard usage. it's whether june 12 happens to you next.
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