OpenAI Delays Launch of Open-Source AI Model

OpenAI's first open model in years will arrive later this summer instead of June, CEO Sam Altman announced in a Tuesday post on X. He indicated the open model is now scheduled for release sometime after June.

“We're giving our open-weights model a bit more development time—expect it later this summer, though not in June,” he wrote. “Our research team delivered an unexpected breakthrough that's genuinely impressive. We believe it will be well worth the additional wait, though it needs a bit more refinement.”

we are going to take a little more time with our open-weights model, i.e. expect it later this summer but not june.

our research team did something unexpected and quite amazing and we think it will be very very worth the wait, but needs a bit longer.

— Sam Altman (@sama) June 10, 2025

OpenAI had initially targeted an early summer release for its open model, which is expected to feature reasoning capabilities comparable to its o-series models. The company aims for this model to outperform other open reasoning systems, such as DeepSeek's R1.

Since OpenAI first revealed plans to launch an open model, competition in this space has intensified. On Tuesday, Mistral—another AI lab known for releasing open models—unveiled its first family of AI reasoning models called Magistral. In April, Chinese AI lab Qwen introduced a series of hybrid AI reasoning models capable of both deliberative reasoning and providing fast, traditional responses.

In addition to enhancing benchmark performance, OpenAI has explored integrating advanced features to boost the model's competitiveness. TechCrunch previously reported that OpenAI leadership discussed enabling the open model to connect with the company's cloud-hosted AI models for handling complex queries. However, it remains uncertain whether these capabilities will be included in the final release.

The launch of OpenAI's open model appears crucial for maintaining strong relationships with researchers and developers. Altman has previously acknowledged that OpenAI has been "on the wrong side of history" regarding open-sourcing its models. To address this perception, the company faces significant pressure to deliver an open model that rivals the best available options in the industry.

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