White House wades into debate on ‘open’ versus ‘closed’ artificial intelligence systems

By MATT O’BRIEN
AP Technology Writer

The Biden administration is wading into a contentious debate about whether the most powerful artificial intelligence systems should be “open-source” or closed. The White House said Wednesday it is seeking public comment on the risks and benefits of having an AI system’s key components publicly available for anyone to use and modify. The inquiry is one piece of the broader executive order that President Joe Biden signed in October to manage the fast-evolving technology. Tech companies are divided on how open they make their AI models, with some emphasizing the dangers of widely accessible AI model components and others stressing that open science is important for researchers and startups.