Microsoft and Nvidia's chief executives just told Washington to back off open AI models.
Satya Nadella and Jensen Huang co-signed a public letter defending open-weight AI systems, the kind whose underlying parameters anyone can download and run. The letter lands as US policymakers weigh new restrictions on releasing open model weights, a move the two CEOs frame as a mistake. Nadella and Huang also used the letter to take swipes at closed AI providers, arguing that a walled-off approach concentrates power in a handful of labs. Neither executive detailed the specific restrictions under discussion or put numbers behind the stakes.
Both companies have plenty riding on open models staying legal and popular. Nvidia sells the chips that run any model, open or closed, and a crackdown that favors a few closed providers could shrink the pool of buyers experimenting with new architectures. Microsoft hosts open-weight models on Azure alongside its OpenAI partnership, so it wins either way this fight shakes out.
It's worth remembering that the loudest defenders of openness here are also two of the best-positioned companies to profit from it, whichever side wins.