Open-source AI faces more government scrutiny
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Open models dodged the Trump administration's latest effort at regulating AI, but they may not remain outside government review as they become more powerful.
Why it matters: Open-source advocates say the models are key for democratizing access to AI and keeping it out of the control of a few powerful players.
- But as capabilities improve and introduce new risks, policymakers are not ready to walk away from regulating open source entirely.
State of play: The Trump administration has long viewed anything at or above the capabilities of Anthropic and OpenAI's most advanced models as needing some form of government collaboration, regardless of whether they're open- or closed-source, a source familiar with the administration's thinking said.
- Open-source players proposed ways to treat their models once they reach frontier capabilities in their recommendations to the White House for the AI framework.
- Some companies that were consulted said they wanted to be subject to the pre-release government review, a source familiar with the discussions said.
Context: The AI framework defines a covered frontier model as a closed-source model with state-of-the-art capabilities and national security risks, Axios previously reported.
- Open models are excluded, and the framework explicitly says nothing in it should be interpreted as restricting open models once they've been released.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director have recently posted in support of open-source AI.
What we're watching: A national security presidential memorandum issued in June could separately set standards for the government's use of open models.
- By early September, officials are due to issue a new policy governing AI use in national security systems.
- By early October, officials are tasked to develop standardized methods for testing and evaluating AI systems, as well as baseline AI security and risk-management practices.
The October implementation deadlines could clarify how open-weight models will be evaluated and procured for national security use, said Eric Syphard, Booz Allen's head of AI.
- Booz Allen is building in‑house AI evaluation capabilities so it can independently test open‑weight models before putting them into customer systems.
The bottom line: Major U.S. companies are embracing open-source models and AI developers are stepping up efforts to compete with China in the space, even as the government weighs greater oversight.
