> What is actually stopping these model companies from running a model at full capacity on release then once its name rings out, start serving users quantized garbage?

...I mean, if they were actually doing this despite saying that they don't—promising one product and delivering something else—I think that would be fraud, no?

And, maybe it's one thing to secretly defraud normies like us (although class action lawsuits do exist), but I don't think major enterprises or the US military would take too kindly to it.