open weights

A principal-level strategy question with business, ecosystem and safety dimensions. There is no universal right answer; the interviewer wants a decision framework tied to the lab's business model and the model's risk profile.

Enterprise vendors have released models under MIT, Apache and non-commercial licences. Release when the model complements what you sell, pick the licence that matches the goal, and keep the workflow-tuned versions closed.

Sovereignty wins procurement meetings, not renewals. Compete on local languages and voice, deployment control and open weights, use the public sector as the first channel, and track commercial revenue outside the subsidy.