Claim◆Article · 52 words
Banning open models now while closed models race 10-100X ahead in the hands of one or two companies creates a bigger long-term risk than allowing open Mythos-class models to exist.
Nathan Lambert · Interconnects
Claim◆Article
Distillation alone doesn't explain K3's strong performance since the model seemed very token-hungry, and China's willingness to open-source such capable models despite the risks is likely a calculated move to drive adoption, since few would pay for a sub-frontier Chinese model anyway.
OpenAI's Dean Ball argues K3's performance can't be explained by distillation alone, and speculates China open-sources capable models like K3 as a calculated adoption strategy, since a closed sub-frontier Chinese model wouldn't attract paying users. ✦ AI generated
Dean Ball · Big Technology · 2026-07-20 · original ↗
Model distillation on its own isn't enough to explain K3's high performance, said Dean Ball, Head of Strategic Futures at OpenAI, who noted the model "seemed very token hungry." He also wondered why China still allows good models to be open-sourced given the potential risks, adding that companies likely see it as a way to drive adoption despite being behind: "and they know that very few people would pay for sub-frontier models from China."
Read full article ↗excerpt · fair-use quotation
- ·Model distillation insufficient to account for K3's performance
- ·Dean Ball noted the model "seemed very token hungry"
- ·Token-hungry training suggests genuine capability, not just distillation
- ·China allows capable models to be open-sourced despite risks
- ·Calculated move to drive adoption while behind frontier
- ·Few would pay for sub-frontier Chinese models anyway
Related moments
Claim◆Article · 48 words
GLM-5.2's release has generated a community focal point rivaled only by DeepSeek R1, exceeding even the 'DeepSeek Moment' the author previously used to describe Kimi K2's release.
Nathan Lambert · Interconnects
Claim◆Article · 69 words
Cracking down on open source AI out of fear of China would backfire: American startups already rely on open source models, including Chinese ones, to compete, and restricting them would only weaken US education, innovation, and competition.
Kevin Xu (Interconnected, co-author) · Interconnects