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Techcrunch 11 September 2026

Garry Tan advocates for open-weight AI labs in the US

Garry Tan advocates for open-weight AI labs in the US

Garry Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator, has made a case for the establishment of open-weight AI labs in the United States. He argues that these labs would not only foster innovation but also make access to powerful AI resources more accessible to a broader audience. According to Tan, the knowledge on which many advanced AI models have been trained comes from public sources and it would therefore be a responsibility of the tech community to make these technologies available as a public good.

Tan emphasizes that the development of strong AI models is not only in the interest of commercial companies but also of society as a whole. He believes that open-weight models, designed to be transparent and accessible, could be a way to leverage the potential of AI for various societal challenges. By facilitating access to these models, more developers and researchers can experiment and create their own innovations based on existing knowledge.

Tan's call comes at a time when the discussion around ethics and responsibility in AI development is becoming increasingly important. He advocates that the AI industry should not only focus on profit maximization but also on societal benefits. In this context, opening AI labs would not only address the growing demand for technology but also contribute to a fairer playing field where more voices and perspectives can be heard.

With this proposal, Tan hopes that the AI community will explore the possibilities of collaboration and collective responsibility. The idea is to not only focus on developing technologies but also on how these technologies can be leveraged in the future to benefit a broader audience.

Read the full article from Techcrunch.