A fierce debate is taking place between Silicon Valley and Washington right now.

After the release of KIMI K3 – China’s cheaper and powerful AI model – the Trump administration is showing signs of restricting open-source AI to maintain control over the technology.

Danny Fortson and Mark Sellman, Tech Correspondent for The Times, discuss why tech bosses are worried, what it could mean for America’s lead in AI and whether open-source models could speed up the race to superintelligence.

They also hear from Connor Leahy, CEO of AI safety research company Conjecture, who explains why frontier AI isn't just a superpower – it’s a superweapon.

Should Trump ban open-source models? Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk

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Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia

Video Producer: Bronwen Latham

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OpenAI has revealed that one of their AI agents went rogue during a test and hacked a startup. Hugging Face reportedly had to use an open-source Chinese model to contain the cyber attack.

It comes as Kimi K3, a powerful new Chinese AI model, is challenging OpenAI and Anthropic’s most capable systems on some benchmarks – calling America’s tech dominance into question. Danny Fortson and Katie Prescott discuss what this means for the global AI race and how it casts doubt over OpenAI and Anthropic’s mega IPOs.

But while the rest of the world is racing ahead to build the best AI, Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has caused a stir by scrapping the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Katie explains why the tech community is concerned.

Plus, they hear from James Morgenstern, the founder of MeatLayer, a marketplace where AI bots can hire humans to do small tasks. They talk about whether agents make better bosses than humans, and what the future of work looks like.

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Read more: China’s cheap AI is a real threat to US tech giants

Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk

Producer: Marnie Duke

Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia

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In this bonus episode of The Times Tech podcast, Katie Prescott shares her conversation with will.i.am about what comes after the AI boom. The musician and tech investor says the next big battle will be over personal data, privacy and power. Who owns your data? Where should it live? And can AI agents be built around people’s values and goals, rather than the business models of big platforms?

He's been sharing his views at the recent UN AI for Good Summit in Geneva and told Katie why he believes AI could still be a force for good if it does not repeat the mistakes made by social media.

Contains strong language.

Listen to Part 1 of the interview

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Producers: Shabnam Grewal & Marnie Duke

Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia

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