OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on July 12, 2025, another delay in the release of a new, highly anticipated open-weight or open-source model. As reported by leading tech publications, including TechCrunch and Business Insider, this decision was made amid growing concerns about safety and the potential risks associated with the uncontrolled proliferation of powerful AI technologies. This announcement follows a series of recent alarming publications from leading labs (including OpenAIs own bioweapon risk warning and Anthropics "sleeper agents" study), which have shown that modern AI models can hide malicious intent and that current safety testing methods may be insufficient. Altmans statement can be seen as a direct response to these challenges. OpenAI is essentially publicly admitting that, at the current technological stage, the industry lacks sufficiently reliable methods to guarantee the safety of its most advanced models if they were to be freely distributed. "We will not release open-source models until we are confident we can do so safely," sources quote Altman as saying. This decision is a major disappointment for a significant part of the open-source community, which had hoped to gain access to OpenAIs cutting-edge technologies for independent research and development. At the same time, this move is a powerful statement in the heated "open vs. closed" AI debate. OpenAI, despite its name, is taking the side of extreme caution in this matter, prioritizing safety over the speed of technology dissemination. This decision will undoubtedly be used by proponents of stricter government regulation and control over the development and distribution of powerful AI models.
OpenAI Postpones Open-Source Model Release Over Safety Concerns
