How does open source compete with the Claude API? Easy: actually let you use the model. From the signup page:
> Anthropic is rolling out Claude slowly and incrementally, as we work to ensure the safety and scalability of it, in alignment with our company values.
> We're working with select partners to roll out Claude in their products. If you're interested in becoming one of those partners, we are accepting applications. Keep in mind that, due to the overwhelming interest we've received so far, we may take a while to reply.
No thanks, I'd much rather not wait months to see if my app deserves their oh-so-limited attention, or "aligns with the values" of a company taking $400m from Sam Bankman-Fried.
To be more charitable to your underlying point, Claude 2 is free to chat with via Anthropic's website, Poe, or Slack, and the GPT-4 API is open to use. If you're building a prototype or just need a chatbot, these do have better results and dev experience, at least for now. But I don't think picking on your Claude API example is unfair. These companies could randomly refuse your prompts via some opaque "moderation API" (that all GPT fine-tuning data goes through!), train on your company's proprietary data, spy on your most intimate questions, or just not find you worth the trouble and cut you off, at any time. THAT is why open source beats proprietary hands down: My device, my data, my weights, my own business.
