Tech Giants Urge Washington to Avoid Open-Weight AI Curbs

Open-weight models can be downloaded, inspected, modified and run on private infrastructure, giving companies an alternative to AI systems available only through a provider’s cloud. The policy debate has intensified as Chinese developers including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI advanced open models, prompting scrutiny in Washington over national security, intellectual property and model distillation. The outcome could shape US competitiveness, customer choice and the market power of a handful of closed-model suppliers.

Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, IBM, Palantir and Hugging Face were among 25 companies and organizations that released the letter on July 24. They urged US policymakers to avoid premature curbs on open-weight models and sweeping restrictions on distillation, arguing targeted legal and commercial measures should address misappropriation. The group said broad limits would reduce competition, raise costs and drive innovation overseas. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Amazon were not among the signatories, underscoring an industry split over AI governance.