Identifying Disruptive Models in the Open-Source LLM Community

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Wei, Xiaoting, Kang, Lele, Pan, Xuelian, Yang, Jiannan
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Wei, Xiaoting
Kang, Lele
Pan, Xuelian
Yang, Jiannan
author_facet Wei, Xiaoting
Kang, Lele
Pan, Xuelian
Yang, Jiannan
contents The rapid growth of open-source large language models (LLMs) has created a complex ecosystem of model inheritance and reuse. However, existing research has focused mainly on descriptive analyses of lineage evolution, with limited attention to identifying which models play a disruptive role in shaping subsequent development. Using metadata from 2,556,240 models on Hugging Face, this study reconstructs a large-scale lineage network and introduces the Model Disruption Index (MDI) to distinguish between models that reinforce existing technological trajectories and those that become new bases for later development. The results show that most models in the open-source LLM community are consolidative rather than disruptive, reflecting a highly concentrated and path-dependent evolutionary structure. Further analyses suggest that disruptive positions are more likely to emerge among large-scale models and through finetuning strategies. Overall, this study provides a new perspective for identifying disruptive models and understanding uneven technological development in open-source LLM ecosystems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_11618
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Identifying Disruptive Models in the Open-Source LLM Community
Wei, Xiaoting
Kang, Lele
Pan, Xuelian
Yang, Jiannan
Social and Information Networks
The rapid growth of open-source large language models (LLMs) has created a complex ecosystem of model inheritance and reuse. However, existing research has focused mainly on descriptive analyses of lineage evolution, with limited attention to identifying which models play a disruptive role in shaping subsequent development. Using metadata from 2,556,240 models on Hugging Face, this study reconstructs a large-scale lineage network and introduces the Model Disruption Index (MDI) to distinguish between models that reinforce existing technological trajectories and those that become new bases for later development. The results show that most models in the open-source LLM community are consolidative rather than disruptive, reflecting a highly concentrated and path-dependent evolutionary structure. Further analyses suggest that disruptive positions are more likely to emerge among large-scale models and through finetuning strategies. Overall, this study provides a new perspective for identifying disruptive models and understanding uneven technological development in open-source LLM ecosystems.
title Identifying Disruptive Models in the Open-Source LLM Community
topic Social and Information Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11618