Latest open artifacts (#25): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017, American-made models, and new regulatory controls in the US & China

The geopolitics of open-weight AI are accelerating again this fall, as we would expect with the risks of all AI systems (open and closed) rising rapidly. We’ve seen many news items in the last week showing both the U.S. and Chinese governments positioning themselves for some controls on open models. MOFCOM, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, released a policy proposal (it’s not yet a law) that would require frontier AI models and some other technologies to get pre-approval from the government before they can be shared internationally. We found the reaction to this to be overblown – as the document states that open-source technologies will be set up for automatic approvals – but many in geopolitical circles say this is a big deal because it proposes a regulatory framework that could be used in the future to regulate China’s AI industry. Others we trust on this issue say this proposal…