OpenAI has announced its intention to release its first “open” language model since GPT-2 “in the coming months.” This move marks a shift in the company’s strategy as it seeks to engage more actively with the developer and research community.
The announcement was made via a feedback form published on OpenAI’s website on Monday. OpenAI is inviting “developers, researchers, and [members of] the broader community” to share their thoughts on what they would like to see in an open-weight model. Questions in the form include inquiries about previous open models used and desired features in OpenAI’s forthcoming model.
“We’re excited to collaborate with developers, researchers, and the broader community to gather inputs and make this model as useful as possible,” OpenAI stated on its website. The company is also offering interested individuals the opportunity to participate in feedback sessions with the OpenAI team.
As part of its effort to engage with the community, OpenAI plans to host developer events to gather insights and demonstrate prototypes of the model. The first event is scheduled to take place in San Francisco within the next few weeks, with additional sessions planned for Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions.
OpenAI Faces Pressure from Competitors
OpenAI’s move comes in response to growing competition from AI labs like DeepSeek and Meta, which have embraced an open approach by making their models available to researchers and businesses. Meta’s Llama family of AI models, for instance, has seen over 1 billion downloads, underscoring the success of this strategy. Similarly, DeepSeek has rapidly expanded its user base and gained interest from investors.
In a recent Reddit Q&A, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that OpenAI has been on the “wrong side of history” regarding open-source AI development. “[I personally think we need to] figure out a different open source strategy,” Altman said. He acknowledged that not all OpenAI executives share this view but suggested the company will be producing more open models in the future, albeit with a smaller competitive edge than in previous years.
OpenAI’s Upcoming Open Model
Expanding on OpenAI’s open model initiative, Altman posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, stating that the upcoming model will feature reasoning capabilities similar to OpenAI’s o3-mini. “[B]efore release, we will evaluate this model according [to] our preparedness framework, like we would for any other model,” Altman wrote. “[A]nd we will do extra work given that we know this model will be modified post-release […] [W]e’re excited to see what developers build and how large companies and governments use it where they prefer to run a model themselves.”
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