A Chinese model split Silicon Valley. Now the startups are fighting back.
Silicon Valley does not usually gang up on its own. This week it did. Nearly 200 US startups have urged the Trump administration not to block American access to Chinese open-weight AI models. A ban, they warn, would gut the next wave of US companies.
The plea, first reported by Politico, came in letters from the newly formed Little Tech Association.
The signatories include Y Combinator and the privacy company Proton. On Wednesday they wrote to President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and the White House science chief Michael Kratsios. Their message was blunt. Do not reach for a broad ban. Use targeted safeguards instead.
Why startups want the Chinese models
Open-weight models are those whose weights are published, so anyone can download and run them. Moonshot’s Kimi K3 and Alibaba’s models are cheap, capable, and free to build on.
Cash-strapped founders lean on them rather than pay for...
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