US Tech Firms Oppose Trump Administration's AI Regulations

Roughly 20 major U.S. technology firms, including Nvidia, Microsoft, and Meta, argued against the Trump administration’s moves to regulate open-source AI models, stating that 'allowing everyone to learn and use the inner workings (weights) of AI software is essential for the U.S. to maintain its technological hegemony.' On the 24th (local time), they released an open letter titled 'Open Weights and America’s AI Dominance' to express their opposition to the government’s regulatory policy. They emphasized that such open models serve as a foundation enabling startups and universities to build AI without high cost burdens and contributing to the proliferation of U.S. technology across all sectors.

They also refuted concerns that publishing weights would lead to a loss of developer control, pointing out that concentrating cutting-edge capabilities in a few closed models actually increases security risks. They argued that openness—allowing global researchers and developers to broadly scrutinize behavior and identify vulnerabilities to refine safety measures—is the correct solution for addressing risks.

They urged that the so-called 'distillation' technique, which utilizes the output of one model to train another, is a legitimate and widely used development method and should not be conflated with suspicions of unauthorized use by Chinese firms. Their stance is that illegal attempts to extract value from closed models should be addressed through targeted legal and commercial frameworks. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Michael Kratsios and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently hinted at sanctions by mentioning the possibility of unauthorized distillation by Chinese companies. This backlash emerged as the U.S. government considered measures to block Chinese open-source models following the release of the 'Kimi K3' model by Chinese startup Moonshot AI.

Meanwhile, the signatories' commitment was highlighted by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang promoting the letter in his first post on social media service X. However, the absence of leading closed-source AI developers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google revealed a divergence of positions within the industry.