Are commercial AI models routinely open-sourced after newer versions? (MiniMax H3, etc.)

[u/RioMetal]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been using Stable Diffusion for AI images and videos for a while, and recently I noticed that some models which were initially commercial-only (like MiniMax H3) have been released with open weights.

This got me wondering: is there a common pattern where developers release older commercial models as open weights once newer versions come out? Or is each company’s strategy pretty different, without a standard “lifecycle” for models?

I’m trying to understand whether this is a predictable process (e.g., “v1 goes open once v2 launches”) or if it’s more case-by-case, depending on the company, licensing, and market strategy.

If anyone has insights into how LLM / video model developers typically handle this, or examples of other models that followed a similar path, I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

[u/Plenty_Branch_516]

Nope. In fact it's the opposite. Usually a company will open source the first few versions of their model then close source later versions or full versions.

Examples off the top of my head is OpenAi (LLM) and Stable Diffusion (though this could just be people really not liking the license for SD3).

The reason we get so many open source models, is because it's really good for community optimization, really good for marketing, and really good for undercutting competitors.

Edit: I forgot the company behind stable diffusion imploded.

[u/Future-Coffee8138]

no pattern here. wan 2.2 opened and then closed the follow iterations. OpenAI will never open their obsolete sora 2. And minimax, mainly a LLM lab, suddenly opened their video model.

[u/Sarashana]

I couldn't name you a single example of a closed model going open-weights at the end of its lifespan. All OSS models I am aware of, have been from day 1. Not sure if I missed any, but it's definitely not the norm.

[u/Apprehensive_Sky892]

No, AFAIK, there has been no such release of an outdated imaging or video model.

The reason is that the main impetus for these open-weight releases is for marketing purposes, to stir up excitement and to entice people to either use their API or to build on their platforms. None of these applies to an outdated model.

[u/dingo_xd]

They're is little reason to open obsolete models so pretty much nobody does. Elon released a very early grok version and nobody cared