Seriously Risky Business Newsletter
July 23, 2026
Srsly Risky Biz: Knives Are Out For Open-Weight AI Models
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Policy & Intelligence
Both the American and Chinese governments have signalled they plan to rein in open-weight AI models.
The Trump administration seems certain to add some Chinese technology companies to the Entity List to protect investment in American frontier AI models. Meanwhile, Beijing is apparently weighing applying export restrictions on Chinese AI tech, including open-weight models.
Overnight, different US government officials issued a strong, coordinated signal that they plan to take action against Chinese AI companies. Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, wrote on X that Chinese company Moonshot AI had "developed a sophisticated internal platform to conduct large scale distillation against US models" and that "large-scale, covert industrial distillation aimed at stealing proprietary U.S. technology and undermining American research is unacceptable."