> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://adjacent.media/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Startups abandon frontier labs for open-weight and custom models
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/startups-abandon-frontier-labs-for-open-weight-and-custom-models/
- Published: 2026-09-22T16:10:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:10:18.000Z
- Description: Companies like Harvey, Abridge, and Ramp are moving away from OpenAI and Anthropic APIs toward open-source alternatives or proprietary fine-tuning to escape the pricing power and vendor lock-in of frontier model providers.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-ai, model strategy, cost optimization, open-weight models

Source: [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-21/startups-like-harvey-embrace-open-models-to-cut-reliance-on-anthropic-openai?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc5MDAxMDkwMiwiZXhwIjoxNzkwNjE1NzAyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTFEyMFpOM04wQTMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiI5MDI3MkIwQzRFRjQ0MkUxOUZCQkFBRTdBODJGMjM3NSJ9.i7tIzBBJutWRddw95G5V52NMXfBwhYa2v52uZC8eJ-g&ref=adjacent.media) (paywall)

Companies like Harvey, Abridge, and Ramp are moving away from OpenAI and Anthropic APIs toward open-source alternatives or proprietary fine-tuning to escape the pricing power and vendor lock-in of frontier model providers. When the cost of dependency exceeds the engineering cost of ownership, even well-funded startups switch infrastructure. For vertical applications—legal, medical, logistics—narrow domain expertise in smaller models now outperforms general-purpose frontier models at lower cost.