AI firms may license rivals' models

When an in‑house model underperforms, a company can temporarily license a superior competitor model to power customer products rather than ship an inferior release or miss product commitments. That tactic shifts competition from purely R&D race dynamics to commercial interoperability, contract dependence, and service continuity choices. — If large firms start routinely licensing rival models as stopgaps, regulators, customers, and national‑security planners will need to rethink questions about supply concentration, resilience, and the meaning of 'in‑house' capability.