It's a very difficult distinction to make.
Would you consider a Python program to be data rather than program just because it is text input to the python interpreter instead of machine code for the CPU?
Would you consider a Python program to be data rather than program just because it is text input to the python interpreter instead of machine code for the CPU?
Weights are literally numbers computed as output. They are not instructions. The semantics of those numbers even when emplaced (loaded) in an artificial neural net is such that they do not execute. They are not instructions. LLM engines and diffusers perform searches where the weights are used to calculate additional output.
Is source code, like Python text, data? Yes. All code is data. But not all data are source code.
If I gave you a web request log, you would not assert it is a program. If I gave you a CSV file with time-series values from a sensor, you would not assert it is a program. If I hand you a database of contact information, you would not assert it is a program. Weight files are the equivalent of CSV files. They are are a dump of parameter values computed from training.
They are not a program.
The definition of computer program is well worn. So is the definition of source code, and the definition of parameters. Weights are parameters.
They are instructions if you consider the LLM system itself to be a kind of weird, indirect virtual machine. Each number can be mapped to a set of instructions that are executed. Even your CPU uses numbers (machine codes) to execute.
Join me in saying: ...code is data is code is data is code is data...