Or whether the model still works the way you want. For example, a lot of people were pretty unhappy with Claude 4.7 and preferred the way Claude 4.6 worked. If you're relying on a service, then you're stuck with whatever changes the provider decides to make. And the provider is chasing a demographic that's profitable, if you happen to fall out of that demographic then tough luck.

But if you run your own models then you're not subject to anybody's whims anymore. You have full control of how your software works and what it does.

That’s absolutely a reason to just use a web chat interface. Zero cost switching between providers when one isn’t performing. Second, your data are spread between providers which reduces surveillance effectiveness.

You can't really do any serious work with a chat interface though. Also, you're still wasting time figuring out if your providers do what you expect. If you run a local model then you know it's going to work the way you set it up in perpetuity.