Meta, Nvidia Release 2 Open-Weight AI Models as U.S. Labs Push Back on China
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Aug 12
Meta, Nvidia Release 2 Open-Weight AI Models as U.S. Labs Push Back on China
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Aug 12
Summary
Meta and Nvidia this week made new AI models free to download through the open-source ecosystem, with Meta unveiling Muse Glimmer and Nvidia launching Nemotron 3.5 Lightning.
The releases advance a U.S. push for open-weight AI after a July 24 industry letter warned against restricting such models, arguing openness can strengthen competition and American technological leadership.
Meta's next step is bigger: Mark Zuckerberg said the company will open the weights for Muse Spark 1.2, which Box CEO Aaron Levie said could rival top Anthropic and OpenAI foundation models.
Both companies are targeting a market where Chinese open-weight models from DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and Alibaba's Qwen are already popular, especially as some enterprises and government users prefer domestic alternatives.
Meta still faces skepticism after disappointing developers with Llama 4 and then shifting toward proprietary Muse models, leaving analysts and startup executives saying it must rebuild trust and prove it can sustain an ecosystem.