Kevin Kelly: Open-Source AI Models Give China an Edge in Token Cost Efficiency

ME News reports that on July 18 (UTC+8), renowned futurist and "godfather of Silicon Valley," Kevin Kelly, during an interview at the 2026 World AI Conference, stated that if one day everyone begins to care about token costs, the existence of open-source models would be an advantage for Chinese AI. Kelly noted that token consumption costs are becoming increasingly important, yet most people currently do not seem to care about them. “But I believe that when we’re constantly consuming such massive amounts of tokens, people will start to care. If you can offer costs just one-tenth of Anthropic’s, it would disrupt the landscape.” However, Kelly also cautioned that the open-source model requires substantial funding to sustain operations, as it is not as profitable as closed-source models: “Building these large models requires enormous capital.” (Source: BlockBeats)