Frontier AI models weigh cost debate

Summary

CNBC's Kristina Partsinevelos reports on Cisco releasing two small open-weight AI security models for free, highlighting the cost and control debate in AI. She contrasts Cisco's open approach with Google's cybersecurity model for trusted partners. Cisco President Jeetu Patel argues that token costs will decline but total AI spending will rise, emphasizing the expanding market.

• Cisco launches free open-weight AI security models, making them downloadable for anyone.
• Models target known security flaws in code, running on customers' own hardware.
• Cisco's models are small (350M-1B parameters) vs frontier models in the trillions, with runs under $1.
• Google also released a cybersecurity model but only for governments and trusted partners.
• Jeetu Patel says token costs must decline, but total AI spending will grow as adoption expands.
• The move intensifies the industry debate on open vs. controlled AI models.