The Open vs. Closed AI Race

The debate around “open source AI” is almost always framed incorrectly.

Commentators treat it as an ideological question. Is open source good or bad? Should AI be democratized or controlled? Is Meta being altruistic or cynical?

These questions miss the point entirely.

Open vs Closed is not an ideology — it’s a strategic lever. The most sophisticated technology companies understand this intuitively. They don’t choose open or closed based on philosophy. They choose which layers to commoditize and which to protect based on their specific competitive position.

This framework explains why Meta opens Llama while keeping its infrastructure closed, why Google open-sourced Android but keeps Search proprietary, why Chinese labs are racing to open-source despite an authoritarian government, and why the global AI race may hinge on strategic positioning rather than raw capability.