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

Li Lecheng, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, spoke at a press conference on July 23, 2026, in Chengdu, China, as part of the APEC Digital Weeks.Evelyn Cheng | CNBCCHENGDU, China — Governments increasingly want to control artificial intelligence, as companies release more powerful open-source models, a new multilateral statement indicates.The 21 APEC member economies, which include the U.S. and China, released a "Chengdu statement" on AI that emphasized respect for "security, data protection and intellectual property rights," while calling for supporting open-source development.The statement released Thursday also specified support for models and projects "that employ strong security assurance through development and deployment." Those details reflect how open source is moving further away from its libertarian roots, and toward one involving more state oversight. China has led recent open-source AI development, amid U.S. claims of stealing from American tech to do so.Open-source models from Chinese companies such as DeepSeek and GLM 5.2 are free to use and download, in contrast to U.S. companies such as Anthropic that only offer closed, pay-to-use AI models.T...