Just reproduce it? Copy the weights. What I think you want is the ability to improve it, to make what in copyright would be called a derivative work.

I don't recall scientific studies giving other scientists the original person's used in a study, set back to before the study. Ir the beakers they used.

You might find this comparison stupid, but I think it is rather apt.

Reproducing a work does not mean you get all the exact same things that were originally used.

At best, I would agree releasing the index is valuable for understanding how the model was made.

But frankly, I don't think the people who demand all this effort are arguing in good faith.

You do not have access to the compute necessary to "reproduce" what they made. So it is a pointless request.