When asked in an AMA if OpenAI would release model weights and research, Sam Altman said “we are discussing” and “it's also not our current highest priority”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... [image] Mastodon: Bryan Lawrence / @bnlawrence@mastodon.nz : “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/ ... X: @teortaxestex : @tsarnick even a god king can bleed huh Alex Volkov / @altryne : Take a deep breath.... Yesssssss! Give us more Open Source @sama!!! [image] @kimmonismus : Image-gen update: it will be worth the wait [image] @kimmonismus : Image generator still in the making [image] @kimmonismus : knowledge cutoff less important for o3 because it has web search [image] @kimmonismus : OpenAI's-Team AMA on Reddit: best of A thread 🧵 No. 1: recursive self-improvement probably a hard take off [image] @kimmonismus : No price increase for plus tier. Thats good news! [image] Kylie Robison / @kyliebytes : kinda respect him just saying it Kylie Robison / @kyliebytes : 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 Nik / @ns123abc : BREAKING: OpenAI @sama admits they will NOT be leading AI race like before because of DeepSeek it's so fucking over [image] Nathan Lambert / @natolambert : Chat is this real? Seems aligned with his in politics and how America wants to own every technology platform. Competition drives change. @teknium1 : 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... LinkedIn: Drew O'Sullivan : “Oh, I'm sorry, tech bros - did DeepSeek copy your work? I can hardly imagine your distress” - Marina Hyde in The Guardian - on terrific form. … Angel Maldonado : This is just hilarious “AI seems to have more godparents than even Sleeping Beauty. And, regrettably, more than one significant prick.” — https://lnkd.in/... … Neil Humphreys : 'You'll note that barely a day goes by without someone described as a “godfather of AI” coming out to caution against its increasingly malign potential and capabilities. … Forums: r/OpenAI : AMA with OpenAI's Sam Altman, Mark Chen, Kevin Weil, Srinivas Narayanan, Michelle Pokrass, and Hongyu Ren r/Foodforthought : Oh, I'm sorry, tech bros - did DeepSeek copy your work? I can hardly imagine your distress | Marina Hyde r/ArtistHate : Oh, I'm sorry, tech bros - did DeepSeek copy your work? I can hardly imagine your distress | Marina Hyde r/technology : Oh, I'm sorry, tech bros - did DeepSeek copy your work? I can hardly imagine your distress
Context & Ripple Effects
OpenAI's response comes as the open-model argument gained force after DeepSeek was cited as benefiting from open research and open-source models such as Meta's Llama. Altman's remarks leave OpenAI's position unresolved rather than announcing a change in access policy.
The question also lands against prior reports of pressure on OpenAI's product and safety processes, including claims that it had rushed announcements and testing while facing stronger rivals. Whether to publish weights is therefore both a competitive and governance choice.
First-order effects
- Developers and researchers seeking OpenAI model weights or additional research disclosures get no release commitment; OpenAI signals that such work is under discussion but subordinate to other priorities.
- OpenAI retains control over how its models are accessed for now, preserving its current distinction between using hosted systems and receiving downloadable weights.
Second-order effects
- Open-model advocates and rival labs gain another point of contrast: they can position openly released weights and research as an alternative for users who need greater inspectability or deployment control.
- The unresolved stance keeps pressure on OpenAI to explain how closed access serves its research and safety goals as open-model ecosystems continue to improve.
Third-order effects
- If leading labs increasingly split between hosted frontier systems and released-weight models, model access—not just benchmark performance—will become a more consequential basis for competition and user choice.
- The debate is likely to remain tied to access governance: releasing weights broadens independent use and scrutiny, while withholding them centralizes control over deployment and updates.
The trend: This is one instance of the widening divide between centrally controlled frontier AI services and open-weight ecosystems competing for developers, research influence, and strategic autonomy.