Why open-source AI became an American national priority

When President Trump released the U.S. AI Action Plan last week, many were surprised to see “encourage open-source and open-weight AI,” as one of the administration’s top priorities. The White House has elevated what was once a highly technical topic into an urgent national concern — and a key strategy to winning the AI race against China.

China’s emphasis on open source, also highlighted in its own Action Plan released shortly after the U.S., makes the open-source race imperative. And the global soft power that comes with more open models from China makes their recent leadership even more notable. 

When DeepSeek-R1, a powerful open-source large language model (LLM) out of China, was released earlier this year, it didn’t come with a press tour. No flashy demos. No keynote speeches. But it was open weights and open science. Open weight means anyone with the right skills and ...