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The biggest danger from Chinese AI models isn't the models themselves but U.S. policy around cybersecurity.

Ben Thompson argues that while Kimi K3 has sparked panic about U.S. AI leadership, the frontier labs' advantage remains real, and the real threat is cybersecurity policy. ✦ AI generated

Ben Thompson · Stratechery · 2026-07-24 · original ↗

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Kimi K3 is a very good model — so good that everyone from Wall Street to the U.S. government is suddenly worried about the U.S.'s position in AI. In fact, the threat isn't new — and the frontier labs advantage is still real. In this week's Stratechery Article and Sharp Tech episode I break down what has and hasn't changed in AI, and explain why the biggest danger is U.S. policy around cybersecurity.

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✳ Kimi K3 ◉ Ben Thompson

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supports → 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 supports → Proposed restrictions on Chinese open-weight models could backfire, accelerating Chinese self-sufficiency while benefiting closed U.S. AI providers.AI News · Latent Space explains mechanism → The US cannot slow down AI development because if it does, China will advance ahead, creating a dangerous asymmetric power dynamic — just like the nuclear arms race after the Manhattan Project.David Sacks · All-In Podcast provides context → Slowing down AI is not possible — the US cannot afford to fall behind because the game theory of the US-China AI race mirrors the nuclear arms race, where asymmetric power is unacceptable and a balance must be reached through competition, not restraint.Friedberg · All-In Podcast