The State of Open-Source AI and Why It Matters

Open-source AI models have sharply closed the performance gap with closed systems this year, with top open-weight models narrowing the difference from about 8 percent in early 2024 to 1.7 percent by February 2025. Because open models can be run and modified directly, rather than only accessed through an API, they enable a broad set of research and development activities, including testing how models perform on different computing hardware, adapting them to specific tasks, and examining how they behave internally.

The panel will explore the unique use cases enabled by open models, how open-source AI increases competition across the AI stack, and how it enables a wide range of firms, researchers, and public institutions to build and deploy AI. It will also explore what steps policymakers can take to support a secure and thriving open AI ecosystem.

This is a fully in-person event. Lunch will be available for attendees.