Microsoft-led open letter urges US to keep open-weight AI models legal
A coalition of 235 AI companies, led by Microsoft, published an open letter on July 24 arguing that open-weight AI models should not be banned or restricted by the US government. The signatories include NVIDIA, Amazon, Y Combinator, The Linux Foundation, and OpenAI. The letter contends that relying solely on closed models creates single points of failure, weakens competition, and leaves critical technology concentrated in a few hands.
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Simon Willison
Open letters about AI development I wrote this summary of the past few weeks of open letters as a section of my sponsors-only newsletter but I've decided to share it here as well. Open Weights and American AI Leadership was shepherded by Microsoft, dated July 24th, and signed by 235 AI-adjacent companies including NVIDIA (see Jensen's first ever tweet ), Amazon, Y Combinator, The Linux Foundation, and (a later signer) OpenAI. It's clearly an argument designed to counter any instincts by the current US government to ban or limit open weight models over "safety" concerns - a reasonable consideration given what happened to Claude Fable 5 ! Relying solely on closed models is not inherently safe: they can be breached, misused, or fail in ways that outsiders cannot detect. And concentrating advanced AI capabilities behind a small number of closed models compounds that risk. It results in a small number of single points of failure, weakens competition, and leaves critical technology in the ha