{
  "id": 135521,
  "title": "US AI leaders turn to Chinese open-weight models, challenging closed-source safety claims",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/us-ai-leaders-turn-to-chinese-open-weight-models-challenging-closed",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-04T16:08:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3362974/us-ai-leaders-turn-chinese-open-weight-models-challenging-closed-source-safety-claims"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "US AI industry leaders are increasingly turning to Chinese open-weight models for enhanced AI safety and security, challenging the stance of US closed-source AI developers such as Anthropic. Andrew Ng, a former Google Brain head and Baidu chief scientist, stated that open-weight models appear safer than their closed-weight counterparts. Ng and a colleague employed two Chinese models, Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 and Zhipu AI's GLM-5.2, to conduct a security review of their new AI agent tool, OpenWorker. Chinese models have also been instrumental in defending against cyberattacks, as seen with Hugging Face, a New York-based code repository, turning to GLM-5.2 for protection. However, US models like OpenAI's GPT-5.6 and Anthropic's Fable 5 have incorporated stringent safeguards that inadvertently hinder legitimate requests, leading to friction between OpenAI, Anthropic, and the broader AI community. Matt White, a former global CTO of the Linux Foundation, emphasized the risks of relying solely on closed-source models, stating that they concentrate power among a few institutions. While open-weight models' safety concerns are legitimate, experts warn of potential misuse, such as by terrorist groups. Anthropic, a staunch critic of open-source AI, argues that open-weight models could lead to the rapid development of \"pandemic-level viruses,\" a claim that Ng attributes to regulatory capture efforts by the company. The US administration is currently drafting a regulatory framework for frontier AI, while Thinking Machines proposed a framework for incremental release of open-weight models. White asserts that openness does not equate to negligence, but rather a responsible approach to AI development.",
  "summary": "More American titans of artificial intelligence are describing Chinese open-weight models as better for AI safety and security than closed-source models, challenging the long-standing claim by US closed-source AI model developers such as Anthropic that open-source models present a threat to society. “From what I’m seeing, I think open-weight models seem safer to me than closed-weight models,” AI…",
  "key_points": [
    "US AI leaders adopt Chinese open-weight models for enhanced safety.",
    "Andrew Ng and colleague used Chinese models Kimi K3 and GLM-5.2 for AI agent tool review.",
    "Closed-source models criticized for hindering legitimate requests and concentrating power."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Reuters Business via SCMP",
        "title": "US AI leaders turn to Chinese open-weight models, challenging closed-source safety claims",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/us-ai-leaders-turn-to-chinese-open-weight-models-challenging-closed-135561",
        "published": "2026-08-04T16:08:31.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Techmeme",
        "title": "Developers in Africa are increasingly choosing Chinese open-source AI models over US models, saying they are downloadable, easier to customize, and much cheaper (New York Times)",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/05/developers-in-africa-are-increasingly-choosing-chinese-open-source-ai",
        "published": "2026-08-05T14:45:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}