US reportedly favors selective bans over blanket restrictions on Chinese open-weight models

The Trump administration is preparing to tighten restrictions on Chinese open-weight AI models, reportedly favoring targeted bans on specific models over a blanket ban, citing national security concerns. The White House approach comes as OpenAI and Google DeepMind signed an open letter opposing regulation of open-weight AI models, backed by major tech companies including Microsoft and Google that have business interests in open AI models. Anthropic and OpenAI are privately lobbying to restrict Chinese open models despite OpenAI's public support for the letter, as both face price pressure from cheaper Chinese alternatives. Current Chinese models such as Kimi K3 trail leading Western models by a wide margin on cybersecurity benchmarks, though open-weight models have recently matched frontier cyber performance from four months prior at a fraction of the cost.