I have huge respect for Cohere and this embedding model looks like it could be best-in-class, but I find it hard to commit to a proprietary embedding model that's only available via an API when there are such good open weight models available.
I really like the approach Nomic take: their most recent models are available via their API or as open weights for non-commercial use only (unless you buy a license). They later relicense their older models under Apache 2.0 licenses.
This gives me confidence that I can continue to use my calculated vectors in the future even if Nomic's model is no longer available because I can run the local one instead.
I really like the approach Nomic take: their most recent models are available via their API or as open weights for non-commercial use only (unless you buy a license). They later relicense their older models under Apache 2.0 licenses.
This gives me confidence that I can continue to use my calculated vectors in the future even if Nomic's model is no longer available because I can run the local one instead.
Nomic Embed Vision 1.5 for example started out as CC-BY-NC-4.0 but was later relicensed to Apache 2.0: https://www.nomic.ai/blog/posts/nomic-embed-vision