[rnosov]

1) I've looked at both codebases and this one is definitely a derivative of the nanoGPT. You can compare all three implementations yourself as they are actually surprisingly compact and readable.

2) The issue whether weights are copyrightable at all has not been settled yet. If they are, there is a fair use doctrine that allows transformative works of a copyrighted work. The line is a bit blurry but consider Cariou v. Prince case[1] where addition of colour to some black and white photos was considered enough to be transformative. Similarly, full fine tuning on current news or adding visual modality could potentially create a brand new model in the eyes of a law.

[1] https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/tfisher/cx/2013_Cariou.pdf