Why do you say API based llms looking iffy at best? Do you just mean current profitability due to market pressures from some companies’ subsidized investor money?

Surely, even if you’re just using open weights models, it should theoretically be cheaper to use them in a highly optimized cloud architecture(even with vendor markups) rather than each person serving their own models from much less efficient (and more importantly, much less consistent volume) self-owned “server under your desk”?