How Open Models Are Transforming AI Asset Creation

InnovationHow Open Models Are Transforming AI Asset CreationByKshitij Dixit,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)May 15, 2026, 09:30am EDTKshitij Dixit, SaaS Founder at Zeo, YC Alum, is building AI-driven products used by over a million users globally. gettyA few years ago, frontier laboratories like OpenAI, ​Google DeepMind, Meta and Tencent dominated AI-asset generation. They invested massively in computing power and proprietary data, but the most-advanced models are generally kept behind application programming interfaces (APIs) and nondisclosure agreements.Open-source initiatives struggled to compete at that scale. However, the landscape has shifted. Epoch AI's analysis found that open-weight models now trail closed-weight benchmarks by only three months on key capability indexes. ​From my perspective as a founder and CEO, the improvement of open-source models ​can open several opportunities for creators and developers. These models allow you to self-host professional-grade asset generation tools without recurring fees or vendor lock-in. Adopting these models, though, requires considering factors like what kind of support you need and whether you have the necessary skills in-house to manage the tools. Let's take a look at a few of the key advancements in open-source models before I share some insights into what developers should know before implementing these tools. Video Generation​Models like OpenAI's Sora and Tencent's Kling defined the standard of fluid motion and detail for video-generation models.Open source models have improved significantly in recent years. ​For example, Wan2.2 can handle complex motion and aesthetics, according to industry research from SiliconFlow. A WhiteFiber analysis found that LTX-Video could generate "24 FPS videos at 768x512 resolution at speeds fas...