The race is on.
While Big Tech gets the headlines, many are out there pushing alternatives that could alter the playfield. This is coming from the open source community that seeks to not only take on the OpenAIs of the world but also Perplexity and Google.
We are seeing a major race between open and closed AI. For the last year, I have beat the drum for open source, decentralization when it comes to AI. Most of this focuses upon data but it applies to others areas of the stack.
Sentient is a company that looking to make it a reality.
Open Source AI Search
Reasoning models are getting a lot of attention. We are seeing the present generation able to search out information from the Internet and compile it in a manner that the models things will be accommodating to us.
Known as ODS, it’s a very soon-to-be open-source AI search framework that utilizes advanced “reasoning” skills to search the web for information and answer complex questions and solve sophisticated problems in the same way as the most intelligent humans do, only it can do it much faster.
This is exactly what the world needs. The ability to counter what Big Tech is developing is crucial. As more models roll out, it is crucial to capture as much of the market as possible. People get into the habit of using the same applications, something that provides strong network effects.
If this is Big Tech, the beast is only going to be fed more.
It’s an exciting development because ODS has shown through a number of tests that it’s one of the most capable AI search frameworks in the business, surpassing Perplexity AI’s most powerful Sonar Reasoning Pro model on the FRAMES benchmark, which tests the advanced reasoning of AI models. It has also demonstrated an ability to respond accurately to simpler questions with reliable and accurate answers on a par with OpenAI’s best models.
[Source](https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2025/04/sentient-to-bring-powerful-ai-search-to-the-masses.html)
The Arms Race
The ability to see where this is going is coming to all. A lot of clarity is being garnered by watching this industry.
AI is exploding and models are cropping up in many places. Ultimately, what is built on top of these models is what is crucial.
We can look at LLMs as nothing more than infrastructure. Like a road, it means little on its own. The key is utility.
A road transports goods and people for a variety of purposes. It is the different use cases tied to the movement over the roads that generates economic activity.
It is no different with this. Chatbots are going to be a minimum feature. Everyone will have one. This means that having more than just the ability to reason and pull information is crucial.
We know Big Tech has this. If Web 3.0 is to excel, it needs to get into the game. It can do this through open source options.
This is the arms race of this generation. Lose it and whatever follows is sunk. We have to ensure it is not in the hands of a few major corporations.
