Why Does America Need Its Own Open AI Models?

Misha Laskin says America needs its own open AI models because open technology is what other countries adopt, and the country that ships it brings its infrastructure with it. About a year before this conversation, Western open models were falling behind. Chinese open models arrived strong, including DeepSeek V3, around the same time reasoning models reached the public, and a wider set of strong Chinese models followed. Reflection's answer was to take on what he calls the open intelligence mission.

The pattern is already familiar. Linux is the widely adopted operating system for computers, Android is the one for phones, and internet protocols are open. Those came from America, and the rest of the world adopted them. Open technology becomes the foundation everyone builds on, and it carries the infrastructure of the country that originated it. If only one country produces the open models, other countries depend on those models and on that country's infrastructure.

He treats that as more than a product contest. America has to field the best open-source AI software and models, so allies, the wider world, and people inside the country build on American open intelligence.