Kevin Kelly, the futurist often described as the "father of the Silicon Valley spirit," said at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference that open-source models could become a key advantage for China’s AI sector if the industry starts paying closer attention to token costs. Speaking in an interview cited by The Paper and relayed by ChainCatcher, Kelly said token consumption costs are becoming increasingly important even if many people do not seem focused on them yet. He argued that once users and companies are constantly consuming vast amounts of tokens, cost sensitivity will rise sharply. In that scenario, he said, offering a model at one-tenth the cost of Anthropic could upend the market. Kelly also cautioned that open-source models still require substantial financial support to keep operating. Unlike closed-source systems, he said, open-source approaches are not as profitable, while building large language models demands enormous capital.
Kevin Kelly said open-source models could become an advantage for China’s AI industry if token costs eventually become a central concern for users and companies, according to The Paper.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, the well-known futurist said token consumption costs are becoming more important, even though the market does not seem to care much about them yet. "But I think when we are consuming such enormous amounts of tokens all the time, people will start to care about the cost. If you can offer something at one-tenth the cost of Anthropic, that would overturn the situation," Kelly said.
He also warned that open-source models need enough funding to keep running because they are not as profitable as closed-source models. "Building these large models requires enormous amounts of capital," he said.
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