Sam Altman urges US to lead in open-source and closed-source AI models

Sam Altman stood before the US Senate on May 8, 2025, and made a case that would have sounded heretical coming from him just a year ago: America needs to win the open-source AI race too. The OpenAI CEO told lawmakers the US should lead in both open-source and closed-source AI models, announcing that his company plans to release a leading open-source model this summer. For a company that built its brand on proprietary, closed systems, that’s a notable reversal. OpenAI’s open-source pivot Earlier in 2025, Altman publicly acknowledged that OpenAI had been “on the wrong side of history” when it came to open-source AI. The competitor in question is primarily DeepSeek, a Chinese AI initiative that has made significant strides in open-source model development. China’s rapid progress in freely available AI tools created a strategic problem for the US: if the best open models come from Beijing, so does the influence over how global developers build on top of them. Altman’s pitch to the Senate was essentially that the US can’t afford to cede either lane. Closed-source models, like OpenAI’s flagship GPT series, generate revenue and allow tighter safety controls. Open-source models spread Amer...