Companies with huge datasets can save up to 80% in AI costs by using open-weight models: Hims CEO

The Hims and Hers CEO said that companies with their own datasets stand to save a lot of money by using open-weight models.

NYSE Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum touted the use of open-weight models to achieve cost savings in AI.

He said companies that generate large amounts of internal data can save up to 80% using open-weight models.

This is one of the hottest topics in the tech sphere as enterprises strategize to improve returns.

One executive is touting open-weight models, especially if your company produces lots of data.

In an interview with CNBC Squawkbox, released on Tuesday, Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum said companies that already have large datasets should shift away from using big AI models and toward using open-weight models.

He cited his company, a telehealth provider that delivers prescription drugs and personal care products through a subscription-based service.

He said the company has a large closed-loop dataset of patients it has worked with, which he called a "real asset" because it can be used to train AI models.

"I think for companies that have the resources and scale, if they have an independent dataset, that is a path that they will go, no question," he said to CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin.

"The cost can be upward of 70, 80% less." Open-weight models let users access and customize a model's trained parameters, and can be cheaper to run at scale.

More importantly, Dudum said models trained on a company's actual use cases would perform better.

"And so what we launched, our first version, immediately outsurpassed what we could get in market," he said.

"But the trajectory of what's possible in just six months is transformative because it's continuously learning on every new patient that comes into Hims & Hers." Dudum's comments come as saving AI costs is one of the hottest topics in the tech and business spheres.

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