An open-source model self-hosted with full access: Which model-type choice best satisfies all three
Only a self-hosted open-source model offers offline operation plus inspectable, modifiable internals, satisfying the air-gap, assurance and no-external-data constraints.
The question
A defense contractor must run a model entirely within its air-gapped network, must be able to inspect and modify the model's internals for assurance, and cannot send any data to an external service. Which model-type choice best satisfies all three constraints?
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- A proprietary large model consumed through the vendor's hosted APIPowerful, but a hosted API requires sending data out and hides internals, breaking the air-gap and inspection constraints.
- A multimodal proprietary model accessed via a managed cloud endpointIts modality is irrelevant here, and a managed cloud endpoint still violates the offline and no-external-service requirements.
- An open-source model self-hosted with full access to its internals ✓Downloadable, inspectable, modifiable weights that run offline satisfy the air-gap, assurance and no-external-service constraints together.
- A small proprietary model licensed only as an encrypted binary blobIt could run locally, yet an opaque encrypted blob prevents the internal inspection and modification the assurance need demands.
The trap
Selecting the most capable proprietary model while ignoring hard constraints on offline operation and internal inspectability. How to remember it
Only a self-hosted open-source model offers offline operation plus inspectable, modifiable internals, satisfying the air-gap, assurance and no-external-data constraints.
How many of these would you get right?
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Part of the Certsqill AIGP question bank · Understanding How to Govern AI Deployment and Use ·
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