FTC's Khan Backs Open AI Models in Bid to Avoid Monopolies

Open AI models that allow developers to customize them with few restrictions are more likely to promote competition, FTC Chair Lina Khan said, weighing in on a key debate within the industry. From a report: "There's tremendous potential for open-weight models to promote competition," Khan said Thursday in San Francisco at startup incubator Y Combinator. "Open-weight models can liberate startups from the arbitrary whims of closed developers and cloud gatekeepers."

"Open-weight" models disclose what an AI model picked up and was tweaked on during its training process. That allows developers to better customize them and makes them more accessible to smaller companies and researchers. But critics have warned that open models carry an increased risk of abuse and could potentially allow companies from geopolitical rivals like China to piggyback off the technology. Khan's comments come as the Biden administration is considering guidance on the use and safety of open-weight models.

LOL wut

[dfghjk]

'"Open-weight" models disclose what an AI model picked up and was tweaked on during its training process.'
Who believes that?!

"Open-weight models can liberate startups from the arbitrary whims of closed developers and cloud gatekeepers."
How does that work? The alternative is that those startups develop their own models. In which case is the startup more bound to these whims of others?

"But critics have warned that open models carry an increased risk of abuse and could potentially allow companies fro

\o/

[easyTree]

There's tremendous potential for open-weight models to promote competition," Khan said Thursday in San Francisco

Good call - any company with a defacto monopoly could use some of their awesomeness to manufacture competitive advantage and FexEx it to their competitors. W00t!

government monopoly

[noshellswill]

Just WHO is this public LLM law supposed to benefit ? Not me. I don't use AI and I don't use the cloud. Neither do I do FOLDING or weather-models. That's prolly true of most casual Linux lusrs . Only the fat-wallet iMac users and VC financed companies ( and the military ) have any need for such computer resources. They have the money to buy LLM products from the big-boyz ... so the government is supposed to gift them that resource ? If you can't pay for XXX then you don't

OpenAI vs Open AI

[Sebby]

So clearly they mean "more-freely-available AI models" vs. "closed AI models" in this case; however at first read it's like they mean they're backing OpenAI, the AI company. This is a bad choice of wording in this context.

Had to be said

[jenningsthecat]

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaann !!!!!

Re:

[Kiaser Zohsay]

Needs more uppercase.

Re:

[echo123]

Leeena KAAAAHN! (I am not worthy)

Seriously, is she not one of the best parts of the current administration or what? Do not mess with Lina Kahn's FTC! Lina Kahn can't be bought, nor does she play.

no reason

[groobly]

There's no reason the US should have a monopoly on AI models; give them free to Russia, China, and Iran.