Open-weight models: What are they and when should you use them?
Thoughtworks Technology Podcast

Open-weight models: What are they and when should you use them?

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 3, 202639 min

We've seen a huge amount of increase in interest around open-weight models in 2026. The reasons for this are multifaceted, ranging from the switch to per token billing, the evolving privacy landscape and improvements in open-weight model capabilities. To unpack open-weight models and explore why and when we might want to use them, host Ken Mugrage is joined by Thoughtworkers Caer Sanders and Andre Almar. They discuss everything from the precise definition of the term and how they compare to other kinds of models, to governance and hardware challenges.

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 1 of 12 · 0:00

.

My name is Ken McRage.

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • B20:42

    Tap for the meaning

  • B25:03

    Tap for the meaning

  • C110:32

    Tap for the meaning

  • C117:03

    Tap for the meaning

  • B220:43

    Tap for the meaning

  • C126:52

    Tap for the meaning

  • B231:25

    Tap for the meaning

  • B235:20

    Tap for the meaning

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 27%A2 29%B1 26%B2 16%C1 2%
  • 82% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 159 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 173 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the ThoughtWorks Technology podcast. My name is Ken McRage. I am one of your regular guests. I'm very happy to have two folks from ThoughtWorks specialize in some of our AI and platform

0:23

things. I'll let them introduce themselves. So first off, Kara Sanders, you want to go ahead? Of course.

0:30

Thank you. Hello, everyone. I'm Kara Sanders. I'm a principal product engineer focusing on AI and agent

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (39 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy