OpenAI delays launch of open-weight model

Not sure if it's coincidental that OpenAI's open weights release got delayed right after an ostensibly excellent open weights model (Kimi K2) got released today.

https://moonshotai.github.io/Kimi-K2/

OpenAI know they need to raise the bar with their release. It can't be a middle-of-the-pack open weights model.

This could be it, especially since they announced last week that it would be the best open-source model.

Technically they were right when they said it, in their minds. Things are moving so fast that in a week, it will be true again.

They might also be focusing all their work on beating Grok 4 now, since xAi has a significant edge in accumulating computing power and they opened a considerable gap in raw intelligence tests like ARC and HLE. OpenAI is in this to win the competitive race, not the open one.

> They might also be focusing all their work on beating Grok 4 now,

With half the key team members they had a month prior

I'm starting to think talent is way less concentrated in these individuals than execs would have investors believe. While all those people who left OpenAI certainly have the ability to raise ridiculous sums of venture capital in all sorts of companies, Anthropic remains the only offspring that has actually reached a level where they can go head-to-head with OpenAI. Zuck now spending billions on snatching those people seems more like a move out of desperation than a real plan.

At this point, it seems to be more engineering throughput that will decide short to medium term outcomes. I’ve yet to see a case where an IC who took a position only because of X in fact outrageous compensation package (especially if not directly tied to longterm company performance through equity) was ever productive again. Meta certainly doesn’t strike me as a company that attracts talent for their “mission.”

TLDR Zuck’s recent actions definitely smell like a predictable failure driven by desperation to me.