Is that "multi-model" a pun on "multimodal"?
I'm not sure if I agree. The point with AGI and winner-takes-it-all, is something like: having machines available that are as intelligent (or more) than humans will be a world-dominating technology. So the first company achieving that... will dominate the world.
Sure, this doesn't apply to our current "narrow" AI. There's still competition with that. Noone really refutes that. All of this doesn't apply before AGI somehow gets invented in the future.
And it's not a very fair game. Big AI companies invest billions in chips, datacenters and electricity. And hire the experts. It's not like any random entity without a huge pile of cash could participate. Or shape what's going to happen. We currently get some models to use. Because of benevolent people like Mark Zuckerberg. Or the Chinese government (and a few others). But I'd argue that's not who we want to rely on.
But yeah, I agree, it should be a more level playing field, with several choices available...