U.S., other nations back open-source AI with 'strong security' at China summit - CNBC

Right on cue, the world's governments have discovered open-source AI. The 21 APEC economies, including the US and China, have issued a 'Chengdu statement' pledging support for open-source AI provided it comes with 'strong security assurance.' Wonderful. Because nothing says 'security assurance' like a joint declaration from a roomful of trade diplomats who couldn't secure a bicycle lock. The phrasing is a masterpiece of political fudge: 'support open-source with strong security' means 'we like free code, just not the scary bits.' Meanwhile, the models that actually matter are being released into the wild while regulators are still arguing over the wording of paragraph 3(c).

Let's be real: this statement isn't about security, it's about appearing to do something without having to do anything. The US and China—the two nations with the most to gain from both open-source proliferation and closed-source dominance—have smiled and agreed that 'security is important.' Groundbreaking. The Chengdu statement is the AI equivalent of a UN resolution on world peace: everyone signs, nobody acts. The tech labs back home will read this, shrug, and continue releasing models with safety evaluations that barely scratch the surface.

And what does 'strong security assurance' even mean? Nobody knows. That's the beauty of diplomatic language—it means whatever the next summit says it means. The real action is happening in the labs and the hacker communities, not in Chengdu. But hey, at least we have a statement. That ought to keep the headlines quiet until the next inevitable catastrophe.