Most of agentic workloads doesn't require the power of the frontier models like Fable 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol. Instead, the cost and availability is the key. Open weight Chinese models resolved this problem and gain a big share of the market, and of course the political influence
There's also the aspect of data sovereignty. I expect a lot of companies and countries will want to run models they can control locally without being reliant on a third party to operate them. And of course running models yourself means you can customize them to your needs as well.
It's interesting. I feel like most users who turn to AI will want the "smartest" agent, and the more AI infiltrates consumer tech the more consumers will be willing to pay a regular premium for the best, like the fastest internet or best phone.
Yeah it's pretty extreme. I know I threw my starlink out when I got a fiber line with a deal that was a little slower but half as expensive, so maybe I'd do the same for my AI.