Key facts
- Nvidia Director of Developer Tech Nader Khalil and Global Head of VC Partnerships Sydney Sykes will lead a session at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
- The session, titled 'The Open vs. Closed AI Debate Is Just Getting Started,' will take place October 13-15 in San Francisco.
- The discussion will focus on the business decisions founders face when choosing between proprietary and open AI models.
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang previously stated the future of AI is proprietary and open, not one versus the other.
- Nader Khalil co-founded Brev.dev, an AI infrastructure company acquired by Nvidia in July 2024.
Nvidia executives Nader Khalil and Sydney Sykes are set to lead a discussion at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, addressing the critical business decision founders face when choosing between proprietary and open AI models. The session, titled "The Open vs. Closed AI Debate Is Just Getting Started," will be held from October 13-15 in San Francisco.
The debate centers on the practical implications for startups, including cost, infrastructure, margins, differentiation, speed, and control. Khalil, Nvidia's Director of Developer Tech, will approach the topic from a builder and infrastructure perspective, drawing on his experience co-founding the AI infrastructure company Brev.dev, which Nvidia acquired in July 2024. Sykes, Nvidia's Global Head of VC Partnerships, will bring the venture capital perspective to the discussion, examining what makes companies investable and scalable.
Open-source AI models have advanced rapidly, with Nvidia noting that 145 papers accepted at ICML 2026 cited its Nemotron open models. Simultaneously, proprietary frontier labs continue to push the boundaries of model capabilities. This dynamic market raises questions about where each approach makes commercial sense and how companies can build a lasting competitive advantage. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has previously suggested that the future lies in a combination of proprietary and open AI, rather than an either-or scenario.