Building on open source AI? Hugging Face’s policy chief on the costs, risks, and trade-offs

2026-11-05 02:44 TechCrunch AI Theresa Loconsolo, Rebecca Bellan 约 10 分钟读完

Open source models are becoming more mainstream as enterprises, governments and startups alike rely on the promise of lower costs, more control, and more flexibility. But as increasingly capable models become more freely available, how do companies capture value? And with Chinese open models gaining…

Theresa Loconsolo

Rebecca Bellan

Nov 4, 2026

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On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Irene Solaiman , Chief Policy Officer and SVP of Strategy at Hugging Face, about what startups need to know before building on open models, from choosing the right tools and infrastructure to navigating the trade-offs shaping the future of open AI.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

Why startups, enterprises, and governments are switching to open AI models to cut costs, and when it makes less sense to use the most powerful models.

Who makes money when the models are free to use, and whether the companies building them can capture the value they create.

Why the U.S. may need deep-pocketed players like Nvidia to build an open frontier model that can compete with China’s, and what’s at stake if Chinese models become the global default.

How recent attacks on open AI platforms are raising a difficult question: how do you keep an open ecosystem secure without closing it off?

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube , Apple Podcasts , Overcast , Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads , at @EquityPod.

Theresa Loconsolo

Audio Producer

Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University.

You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected] .

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Rebecca Bellan

Senior Reporter

Rebecca Bellan is a senior reporter at TechCrunch where she covers the business, policy, and emerging trends shaping artificial intelligence. Her work has also appeared in Forbes, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and other publications.

You can contact or verify outreach from Rebecca by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at rebeccabellan.491 on Signal.

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