Free model usage is controlled by the LLM provider, not OpenRouter. Both parties have their own incentives to allow it and that would not change with different owners.

> that would not change with different owners

Bookmarking this confidence because people speaking confidently bothers me; we'll see.

The free DeepSeek depended on full data sharing straight to China.

Unlike ChatGPT which depends on selling the full data straight to the US.