Open-Weight AI Models: Why Companies Stop Renting

Open-weight AI models from Chinese and independent developers are becoming capable enough for production workloads, prompting enterprises to shift from API rental (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) to self-hosted alternatives; regulatory scrutiny is intensifying, with Congress investigating companies like Airbnb for use of Chinese models. If you're selling API access to AI models, your customers are building their own inference on open weights instead of paying per token. If you're building enterprise software on closed APIs, Congress is now asking who owns your model—and Chinese open weights come with regulatory liability that American ones don't.