AI Photo: VCG

The US tech industry is endorsing a new plan this week called the ATOM Project, namely American Truly Open Models, which aims to win back the US lead in open-source artificial intelligence (AI) technology from China, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

This ambitious plan to pool resources for developing competitive open-source AI models comes at a time when Chinese open-source AI products are gaining recognition and adoption globally. Benchmarking firm Artificial Analysis found that only five of the top 15 AI models are open-source varieties and all were developed by Chinese AI companies.

The landscape of AI development in China and the US reflects their distinct paths: the US has had a profound accumulation of technology in the AI field for a long time, and its development path tends to be a closed-source model, while China has embraced an open-source approach driven by vast application scenarios and the need for industrial upgrading. 

However, the launch of the US ATOM plan suggests that China's progress in its AI ecosystem has prompted the US to recalibrate its approach, which may stem from its unease and anxiety about the rapid growth of China's open-source ecosystem. But regardless of the motivations, it is impossible for the US to succeed in using open-source as a tool to contain China.

Both the open-source and closed-source approaches have advantages. They are two different paths in AI development. The choice of path is essentially a strategic one made by each country based on its own development characteristics and advantages.

The preference for closed-source models in the US is rooted in its business development logic. This approach allows companies to better safeguard their core technologies and commercialize technological advancements, aligning with the country's highly market-oriented scientific and technological ecosystem. This technology development path, driven by commercial interests, has driven US AI companies to continually set new records in algorithm accuracy and model scale, enabling the US to maintain a dominant position in the high-end AI technology sector.

China's choice of the open-source route is also an inevitable one based on its own development characteristics and needs. China has the largest and most abundant application scenarios in the world. The landing scenarios of AI technology cover almost all aspects of the economy and society. 

The open-source model provides a low-cost, efficient way to access AI technology for these scenarios. It encourages small and medium-sized enterprises and even individual developers to participate in the innovation and application of AI technology, enabling them to adapt to specific scenarios based on open-source achievements and promoting the rapid landing of AI technologies in various industries. This application scenario-driven open-source ecosystem integrates AI technology into the blood of industrial upgrading, becoming a powerful driving force for industrial development, and gives birth to competitive innovation.

At a deeper level, the competition between the US and China in the AI open-source field is essentially a contest between two development models. China's open-source development is characterized by the combination of national guidance and market drive. The government sets the overall direction and provides policy support to establish the foundation of the open-source ecosystem, while the market leverages its vast application scenarios to transform technological advantages into industrial advantages. 

By contrast, technological development in the US has long been dominated by commercial interests, and even its ATOM plan is likely tinged with the intention of "containing competitors." This difference reflects two distinct technological development philosophies. Open-source thrives on inclusivity and long-term collaboration, not short-term gains or geopolitical maneuvering.

The US commitment to investing in computing power, talent, and capital for the open-source track is an approach  that could catalyze more breakthroughs. But success hinges on building an inclusive, adaptive, and impactful ecosystem, and a containment-focused approach cannot be sustained. Ultimately, open-source AI is a global endeavor, not a tool for containment, and any attempt by the US to use it as such is likely to fail.