GoKawiilIn an escalating effort to give the federal government power over the AI industry, some members of the Trump administration have reportedly tried to implement a “de facto ban” on foreign-made open-source AI models. This ban would apply to any non-US-made AI model, but the goal seems to be to specifically target Chinese AI labs, which often release their models as open source.
The recent release of the Kimi K3 AI model from Chinese developer Moonshot fueled these concerns. Kimi K3 matched and in some cases exceeded the capabilities of American-made AI models such as those made by OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Its July release sent shockwaves through Wall Street – not unlike other AI model drops, but with one big difference. Kimi K3 was released as an open-weight model, while American AI leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic companies keep their tech closed with very few exceptions.
Open-source AI typically refers to open-weight models. Weights are characteristics that tell the model how to behave – giving more weight to useful answers than incorrect ones, for example. Open-source advocates have said that to be truly open-source, AI companies should release or clarify their training data sources. AI companies haven’t been forthcoming; OpenAI and other companies are being sued by publishers and artists for allegedly violating their copyrights in AI training. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Open-weight models give developers more insight into how top models work. Nearly 80% of developers use open models, a recent Mozilla report found. “Open-weight models are everywhere in the industry already,” said Linda Griffin, vice president of global policy at Mozilla. “So a world without them would hit a lot of people.”
Tech companies immediately and strongly rejected the idea of a government ban on open AI models. Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta and several other AI developers and tech venture capital firms signed an open letter (PDF) asking the Trump administration to reconsider.
“Our AI leadership will be judged not by one frontier AI model, but by whether the United States builds a strong, open ecosystem that diffuses into every sector,” the July 24 letter reads. Ideally, the money and power that AI companies promise come with AI adoption, would follow.
Restrictions on Chinese tech: Good or bad for cybersecurity?
This is far from the first time the Trump administration has taken steps to limit Americans’ access to Chinese tech. Remember the years-long battle over potentially banning TikTok? Chinese parent company ByteDance was eventually forced to transfer ownership of its US business to US-based ownership led by Oracle, whose co-founder and executive chairman, Larry Ellison, is a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump.
Restrictions on foreign hardware have been rolling out, too. The Federal Communications Commission banned foreign-made routers in March, saying that they posed a security risk. The order massively disrupted the industry behind the devices that people need in order to access the internet.
Given the leaps in AI advancement over the past year, it isn’t totally surprising to see these arguments. AI is being used by both cybersecurity attackers and defenders, making it a high priority for AI companies to secure their models against potential misuse.
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