OpenAI to Launch First Open-Weight Language Model Since GPT-2
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the company is preparing to launch a new open-weight language model with advanced reasoning abilities. This marks the company’s first release of an open-weight model since GPT-2. While not fully open-source, an open-weight model offers public access to its trained parameters, allowing developers to fine-tune and build upon the model without needing the original training data.
To ensure the model meets community needs, OpenAI will host a series of developer sessions. The first event is scheduled for San Francisco in the coming weeks, with additional gatherings planned across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. “We still have some decisions to make, so we are hosting developer events to gather feedback and later play with early prototypes," Altman said in a post on X.
A Strategic Step Toward Broader Accessibility
According to Reuters, open-weight models differ from open-source AI in that they do not include full transparency into the training data or source code. However, by making the model weights accessible, OpenAI aims to support greater experimentation and custom development by the AI community.
Altman has previously shared plans to simplify OpenAI’s product lineup and recently unveiled a new roadmap focusing on user accessibility and model improvement.
Also read: OpenAI to Adopt Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol for Enhanced AI Integration
Funding Tied to For-Profit Transition
OpenAI is currently restructuring to a for-profit model, a shift necessary to secure a massive $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group. A source close to the matter told Reuters that this transition must be completed by year-end for the funding to proceed.
The company raised $6.6 billion in a previous round last October and is positioning itself to scale development of next-generation AI systems.
