May 30, 2023
An AI Challenge: Balancing Open and Closed Systems
Technology debates are often a tug-of-war between open and closed systems.
On one side, open allows interoperability, customization, and integration with third-party software or hardware. Champions highlight how openness promotes transparency, accountability, competition, and significant innovation. On the other side, defenders of closed argue that they are more stable and secure and better protect their owners’ property interests.
Navigating the spectrum between open and closed is critical to effective artificial intelligence policy. The right balance will promote innovation and competition while managing AI’s significant risks.
Much of AI’s creation and evolution have happened thanks to open-source development and diffusion. Numerous widely-adopted AI open-source projects provide development frameworks and libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, and MXNet, and many companies – including Hugging Face, Stability AI, Nomic AI, and Meta – have released open-source AI models or enable open-source development.
Google and OpenAI have traditionally stood on the side of openness. Both have published AI research and open-source tools. Google, for example, originally developed TensorFlow in-house and later released it as an open-source software library for building AI.
Read the full article from CEPA.
More from CNAS
-
CNAS Insights
Technology & National Security
CNAS Insights | Governing Jailbreak IncidentsIn June 2026, Anthropic publicly released Claude Fable 5, a restricted version of its highly cyber-capable Mythos model. Within days, reports reached U.S. officials that resea...
By Ben Hayum
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
Closing the Remote Access LoopThis article was originally published in Issues in Science and Technology. As Asad Ramzanali argues in “Why the Cloud Needs Competition” (Issues, Winter 2026), cloud computing...
By Michelle Nie
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
Losing the War of the FutureThis article was originally published in Foreign Affairs. In its recent campaign against Iran, the United States dominated the skies using its traditional airpower. The U.S. m...
By Paul Scharre
-
Podcast
Technology & National Security
We Need AI Treaties. This Is How We Get ThemIn this episode, Tristan sits down with two experts in this field to discuss the kinds of verification technology we need for AI, the challenges of building it, and the world ...
By Janet Egan & Tim Fist
