Dario Amodei: AI Open Source Is a Misnomer - Ruan Yifeng’s Blog

Source: https://www.ruanyifeng.com/blog/2026/06/anthropic.html

Below are the remarks from Dario Amodei, founder of Anthropic (https://www.threads.com/@whaleagent/post/DaJx5pfkzmL).

Take a look – do you agree with him, or do you think he’s muddying the waters and talking nonsense?

He says that even if an AI model is released publicly, you can’t see how it works internally. That’s why the industry doesn’t call it “open source” – they call it “open weights.”

Traditional open source projects allow many people to join in development, submit changes, and pool everyone’s wisdom, making the project better over time.

But open source AI models aren’t like that. They only release the weight files. You simply can’t submit modifications or participate in their development.

So when he sees a new model, he never asks whether it’s open source – that doesn’t matter. He asks only one question: is it good enough? Has it beaten us on important tasks?

Also, open source models aren’t necessarily free models. The model is still huge – you have to pay to run it in the cloud, let it do inference, and get someone to debug it so it runs fast enough.

Instead of obsessing over open vs. closed source, you should focus on who developed the model and whether it does the job you need better than anything else.

That’s Dario Amodei in his own words. I think it’s pure nonsense made up with eyes wide open.

Even if open source models only release the weights, are they the same as closed source models? Without anyone’s permission, I can run an open source model in the cloud – all my conversations, all my data are private. But can I run the Claude model myself?

Besides, who says you can’t see how a model works internally? DeepSeek publicly published a paper (https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3401632759482502) explaining how their model works. Meanwhile, the Claude model is a true black box.

Also, yesterday I received an email from Anthropic informing me that my account had been suspended for violating their usage policy.

It’s ridiculous. My Anthropic account was opened when their model first launched, via a third-country method just for testing. I used it only twice, simply asked questions on the web page, and it’s been at least three months since my last use.

I never caused any harm to their service whatsoever. But they even blocked a “semi-dormant” account like mine. The only reason is that I belong to a Chinese user – no one can slip through their net.

This will never succeed – it will only backfire.

Let’s put it this way: As far as I know, no technology in human history has ever managed to keep its secrets without leakage. Going back to Chinese silk (https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_10900070), British looms (https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/281895895), and more recently, nuclear technology (https://www.sohu.com/a/520520453_120934258) and encryption technology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_the_United_States), it’s all the same. I believe that in the long run, large model technology and chip technology will be no exception.

Anthropic’s blatant, discriminatory “Chinese not allowed” policy will only backfire. The more they close themselves off, the faster open source models will develop, and the more isolated they’ll become, surrounded by open source models.

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