OpenAI on Tuesday released two open-weight language models for the first time since it rolled out GPT-2 in 2019. CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos reports on the new models.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

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OpenAI has introduced two new open-weight AI models, allowing developers to access and modify certain parameters of the models. This move makes OpenAI's technology more accessible than it has been in recent years, as previously their models were only available through cloud or web applications. While the models are not fully open source, developers can now download and use them on their own systems, similar to offerings from Meta, Mistral, and DeepSeek.

The release comes as OpenAI aims to expand its developer ecosystem and compete with other global AI companies. Although OpenAI is not releasing its full code base or training data, the open-weight approach is intended to make the models cheaper to operate and more suitable for sensitive applications. This shift follows increased competition and changing strategies among other major AI companies.

OpenAI releases two new open-weight AI models

OpenAI just announcing two new OpenWeight AI models. Those are models where some of the parameters around how they're trained are public and accessible. Mackenzie Sagalos is here. She's got more on how this could change the AI race in today's Tech Check. And Mac, we're talking about not completely open source, but a little bit. And that's a really important distinction here, Becky. So OpenAI is shifting strategy today, making its tech more accessible than it's been in six years because until now, you could only use OpenAI's models through the cloud or chat and web apps like ChatGBT. But with this release, developers can download OpenWeight models and build your apps around them. So this is similar to what Meta, Microsoft-backed Mistral and China's DeepSeek have already done. A model's weights are the values inside the network that get set during training. So making them public means that developers can freely modify and run the AI on their own systems. But to your point, Becky, it is not fully open source. OpenAI still is not sharing its training data or entire code base, but it's cheaper to operate and better suited for sensitive work that companies don't want running in the cloud. Now, Sam Altman said months ago that OpenAI had been on the wrong side of history by keeping its AI locked up. And this shift also comes after DeepSeek's breakout success and the widespread adoption of Meta's Llama models. But now Meta itself is rethinking how open its next generation will be, something that Mark Zuckerberg suggested on last week's earnings call as OpenAI moves in the exact opposite direction. So today's launch makes OpenAI pretty much the only US LLM builder that's actively leaning into a more open approach, aiming to grow its developer ecosystem while also going head-to-head with Chinese rivals like DeepSeek and KimiK2, as Altman doubles down on this American AI dominance. So it's kind of exactly what Elon Musk said he wanted Sam Altman and OpenAI to do to begin with? It's exactly kind of like returning to this original idea. It is something that they tried with GBT-2 six years ago. But yeah, we're seeing this question evolve of how important that open source strategy is at a time when DeepSeek is gaining in popularity and also scrutiny from politicians.

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OpenAI releases two new open-weight AI models

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