I don't think that's right. The owners will still own everything. If or when that happens, I think the economy would morph into a new thing completely focused on serving the whims of those "owners."

There's an old Isaac Asimov book with something similar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_universe#Solaria (though accomplished more peacefully and with less pain than I think is realistic).

Catching up for how long though? Large models are very expensive to train, and the only reason any of them are open is because ostensibly for-profit companies are absorbing the enormous costs on behalf of the open source scene. What's the plan B when those unprofitable companies (or divisions within companies) pull the ladder up behind them in pursuit of profits?

By and large people do not have the integrity to even care that numbers are obviously being fudged, and they know that the market is going to respond positively to blustering and bald faced lies. It's a self reinforcing cycle.