OpenAI Launches Open Models Amidst Competition with China’s DeepSeek

OpenAI released its first open-weight models since GPT-2 earlier this month, promising strong real-world performance at low cost. With China’s DeepSeek shaking up the AI industry earlier this year through open-source releases, it became clear why OpenAI didn’t want to be on what CEO Sam Altman called the “wrong side of history.” Altman, in an interaction with CNBC, admitted that competition from Chinese open-source models like DeepSeek played a major role in OpenAI’s decision. He stated, 'It was clear that if we didn't do it, the world was gonna head to be mostly built on Chinese open source models.' Altman also commented on the US policy of restricting powerful semiconductor exports to China, expressing skepticism about its effectiveness.