OpenAI is planning to release an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model. This would be the San Francisco-based AI firm’s first open-source reasoning-focused AI model, and it is expected to be released in the next few months. This will be the company’s first open-source release since the GPT-2 model, which was introduced in November 2019. The AI firm is currently seeking feedback from the developer community to better understand their needs and requirements. OpenAI said that a major focus in the development of the AI model will be on safety.
OpenAI Planning to Release an Open-Source AI Model
The open-source space in AI has become quite competitive. From companies focused on the community, such as Meta, Mistral, and Alibaba, to tech giants, such as Google and Microsoft, have all released multiple open models. However, OpenAI has been missing in this area ever since the release of GPT-2, and has focused on only releasing closed software that cannot be downloaded or modified for either research or commercial purposes.
Earlier this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was also asked a question on the same topic during an ask-me-anything (AMA) session on Reddit. Altman admitted that the company has been “on the wrong side of history” in this aspect and “need to figure out a different open-source strategy.” But he also added that it was not the company’s highest priority.
However, on Monday, the company CEO shared an “Open model feedback” form in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), suggesting that the AI firm is now planning to build an open-weight AI model with advanced reasoning. For the unaware, the weights are just the numerical values of the connections the AI makes to generate an output.
While it is a significant part of the AI model, without the dataset and training techniques in the public domain, the model cannot be replicated or built from scratch to add onto another system. Such black boxed AI models are generally considered partially open.
Altman said that the safety of the model will remain a core focus area for the company, given that the model will be modified post-release. The AI firm plans to refer to its Preparedness Framework for this.
