Signal Major tech firms and VCs press Washington to back open-weight AI

Summary

Google, Microsoft, Cisco, OpenAI and venture firms including a16z sent a joint letter urging the US government to embrace openness and transparency in AI. They argue that open-source and open-weight AI models are essential cybersecurity tools, warning that concentrating advanced AI among a few closed providers would make it harder to find security flaws and raise national risk. The push unfolded in two steps, with a coalition of 76 companies first issuing an open letter extolling the benefits of open-weight models, followed by 37 companies, some of which had also signed the letter, forming a separate alliance with a similar aim. Both moves came as Silicon Valley and Washington scrambled to respond to Chinese open-weight AI systems that have rapidly narrowed the technology gap with the United States in recent weeks. The industry is cautioning against efforts to restrict open AI systems, arguing instead that openness should be treated as a way to strengthen defensive capability amid the AI competition with China.