> Open source models like deepseek and llama 3 are rapidly catching up, if I can get 90% of the functionality for significantly less ( or free if I want to use my own GPU), what value does open AI really have
You have several providers who host both deep-seek and llama 3. They pay for the hardware and electricity, you pay for usage but it's significantly cheaper than using OpenAIs models.
Where are these providers and do they offer batch processing? If they don't how does there cost compare to Gemini and OpenAI batch processing? For the hobby project I'm working on batch processing is a great fit. The only cost comparison tool I've been able to find is openrouter and it doesn't support batch processing for cost savings.
They pay for the hardware and electricity /s.