Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen is sounding the alarm about the future of artificial intelligence in the United States. In a recent interview on tech show TBPN, Andreessen emphasized that the US needs to embrace open-source AI or risk ceding control to China. The stakes are high as AI is poised to ‘intermediate’ critical institutions such as education, law, and medicine, according to Andreessen.
The US-China AI Rivalry
The debate over open-source versus closed-source AI has been intensifying amid the growing US-China tech rivalry. Open-source models are freely accessible, allowing developers to study, modify, and build upon them. In contrast, closed-source models are tightly controlled by their developers. Chinese companies have largely favored the open-source approach, while US tech giants have taken a more proprietary stance.
Andreessen pointed out that it’s ‘plausible’ and ‘entirely feasible’ that open-source AI could become the global standard. He believes that widespread access to ‘free’ AI would be a ‘pretty magical result.’ However, he’s not just concerned about access; he’s also worried about the values and control embedded in these AI systems. A country that develops its own AI models shapes the values, assumptions, and messaging within them, Andreessen noted.
Shift Towards Open-Source AI
China has been making significant strides in the open-source AI race. In January, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released R1, a large language model that rivals ChatGPT’s capabilities at a fraction of the cost. This move raised questions about the billions spent on training closed models in the US. Andreessen previously described this development as ‘AI’s Sputnik moment.’ In response, major US players like OpenAI have started to shift towards more open approaches.
‘Sovereign AI’ has become a growing concern, with Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang advocating for countries to develop their own AI systems to own their intelligence and data. Andreessen’s firm, Andreessen Horowitz, backs AI companies like OpenAI and xAI, though the VC firm did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
The US has recently taken steps to restrict China’s access to US AI chips and banned the global use of Huawei’s Ascend AI chips, citing national security concerns. As the hardware divide between the US and China deepens, the focus is shifting to software and AI, where control over the underlying models is seen as crucial for technological sovereignty.
