Garry tan advocates for U.S. open-weight AI labs to adopt distillation techniques

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan has called for U.S. open-weight AI labs to adopt distillation techniques, similar to those used by Chinese labs, to create a more robust set of open models. In an interview with CNBC, Tan argued that regulators should not interfere with this practice, stating, 'We could argue that there should be an American distillation regime.' He emphasized that distillation involves using prompts to understand how a model works, a method commonly used to train new models. Tan clarified that he is not advocating for the use of stolen credentials, but rather for open access to distill models. He also pointed out that proprietary labs did not seek permission when they trained on extensive human knowledge. Tan believes that access to intelligence trained on public data should be a public good, not restricted by terms of service. He warned against a future where a single company monopolizes frontier AI, calling it a 'doomer scenario.'