In a Reddit AMA, Sam Altman admitted that DeepSeek has lessened OpenAI's lead and said OpenAI has been “on the wrong side of history” in terms of open sourcing

To cap off a day of product releases, OpenAI researchers, engineers, and executives, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman …

TechCrunch 2025-02-02 Kyle Wiggers

Context & Ripple Effects

OpenAI’s acknowledgment follows Altman’s earlier description of DeepSeek’s R1 as impressive for its price and a promise to accelerate releases, captured in his earlier response to DeepSeek’s R1. The new remarks make the competitive pressure more explicit.

The open-source question remains unresolved: in the same AMA cycle, Altman said releasing weights and research was under discussion but not the company’s top priority, according to his qualified response on model weights. That leaves a meaningful gap between a changed public posture and a concrete product-policy change.

First-order effects

DeepSeek’s emergence publicly narrows the perception of OpenAI’s technical lead, raising the stakes for OpenAI’s next releases and for how it explains its model-access strategy.
Altman’s open-source concession puts OpenAI’s leadership on record as reconsidering a closed-first posture, while stopping short of committing to release weights or research.

Second-order effects

Rival AI developers can use the contrast between accessible models and proprietary offerings to compete for developers, researchers, and customers evaluating control over deployment.
OpenAI faces greater pressure to demonstrate differentiation through product performance, release cadence, or distribution rather than relying solely on a presumed model-quality advantage.

Third-order effects

If capable, lower-cost models continue to close the gap, AI competition may shift from a small number of frontier labs toward a broader ecosystem where access terms and deployment flexibility matter more.
The episode points to an unresolved industry trade-off: labs may be pushed toward greater openness while still weighing the safety, commercial, and governance constraints that favor controlled releases.

The trend: Competitive gains by accessible AI models are forcing leading proprietary labs to reassess whether closed model access remains a durable advantage.

Discussion

@saltcreekbrews @saltcreekbrews on bluesky
So delete your training set and restart [embedded post]
@marionawfal Mario Nawfal on x
🇺🇸 JASON: SAM ALTMAN GOT A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE “I think the best part of this is the fact that Sam Altman was supposed to be doing open source. He made it a closed source company. He stole everybody's data and got caught red handed. Now, the Chinese have come and open [vide…
@varunrdeshpande Varun Deshpande on x
This is big. “I personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open source strategy.” - Altman during Reddit Q&A, on releasing model weights. Deepseek really blew everything wide open. [image]
@michaelfnunez Michael Nuñez on x
In his Reddit AMA, Sam Altman (@sama) revealed OpenAI is discussing releasing model weights and admitted the company was “on the wrong side of history” on open source. He also acknowledged DeepSeek's rise, saying OpenAI will “maintain less of a lead.” [image]
@tanayj Tanay Jaipuria on x
In a Reddit AMA today, Sam Altman revealed that OpenAI is reconsidering its open-source strategy 👀 [image]
@iterintellectus Vittorio on x
sam altman: “i personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open source strategy” [image]
@skupor Scott Kupor on x
“I personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open source strategy,” Altman responded. https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
@tsarnick @tsarnick on x
Sam Altman: “we have been on the wrong side of history” with regards to open source/open weights AI models [image]
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
Sam Altman said during the reddit AMA that OpenAI are currently discussing releasing some model weights and publishing research. With regards to open source, he personally feels that they have been on the wrong side of history and need a new strategy. [image]
r/NoShitSherlock r on reddit
Sam Altman thinks OpenAI may have been on the ‘wrong side of history’ re: open source
r/OpenAI r on reddit
Sam Altman: OpenAI has been on the ‘wrong side of history’ concerning open source | TechCrunch
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
Sam Altman: OpenAI has been on the ‘wrong side of history’ concerning open source | TechCrunch
r/technology r on reddit
Sam Altman: OpenAI has been on the ‘wrong side of history’ concerning open source | TechCrunch
@shashj Shashank Joshi on bluesky
“OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said he believes his company should consider giving away its AI models, a potentially seismic strategy shift in the same week China's DeepSeek has upended the artificial-intelligence industry” www.wsj.com/tech/ai/sam-...
@hetanshah Hetan Shah on bluesky
That's quite the opener from Marina Hyde — www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... [image]
@bnlawrence@mastodon.nz Bryan Lawrence on mastodon
“For us little people, the choice seems to be between being data-jacked and screwed over by the undemocratic Chinese, or being data-jacked and screwed over by the post-democratic tech bros.” — Marina Hyde utterly nails it! — https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@teortaxestex @teortaxestex on x
@tsarnick even a god king can bleed huh
@altryne Alex Volkov on x
Take a deep breath.... Yesssssss! Give us more Open Source @sama!!! [image]
@kimmonismus @kimmonismus on x
Image-gen update: it will be worth the wait [image]
@kimmonismus @kimmonismus on x
Image generator still in the making [image]
@kimmonismus @kimmonismus on x
knowledge cutoff less important for o3 because it has web search [image]
@kimmonismus @kimmonismus on x
OpenAI's-Team AMA on Reddit: best of A thread 🧵 No. 1: recursive self-improvement probably a hard take off [image]
@kimmonismus @kimmonismus on x
No price increase for plus tier. Thats good news! [image]
@kyliebytes Kylie Robison on x
kinda respect him just saying it
@kyliebytes Kylie Robison on x
i'm always yelling about AI leaders not telling the full truth especially to garner as much money as humanly possible so gotta give credit where its due
@ns123abc Nik on x
BREAKING: OpenAI @sama admits they will NOT be leading AI race like before because of DeepSeek it's so fucking over [image]
@natolambert Nathan Lambert on x
Chat is this real? Seems aligned with his in politics and how America wants to own every technology platform. Competition drives change.
@teknium1 @teknium1 on x
Let me tell you all a little story. Sometime around a or so year ago i reached out to an openai staffer who will not be named who had implied they would be very interested in doing some things open source...
r/OpenAI r on reddit
AMA with OpenAI's Sam Altman, Mark Chen, Kevin Weil, Srinivas Narayanan, Michelle Pokrass, and Hongyu Ren
r/Foodforthought r on reddit
Oh, I'm sorry, tech bros - did DeepSeek copy your work? I can hardly imagine your distress | Marina Hyde
r/ArtistHate r on reddit
Oh, I'm sorry, tech bros - did DeepSeek copy your work? I can hardly imagine your distress | Marina Hyde
r/technology r on reddit
Oh, I'm sorry, tech bros - did DeepSeek copy your work? I can hardly imagine your distress

Chronicles