Chinese AI startup DeepSeek embarrassed OpenAI last week, demonstrating that its cutting-edge AI chatbots can be recreated at a tiny fraction of the cost by using clever workarounds. The app’s emergence sent ripples across Silicon Valley, punching a $1 trillion hole through the tech market. It also reignited a debate surrounding the role of open-source code in the AI industry. Despite its name and open-source roots, the Altman-led company has doubled down on working on its proprietary software behind doors while maximizing profits. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s competitors, most notably DeepSeek and Meta, have — broadly speaking — open-sourced their AI models, allowing experts to examine how they work under the hood. And now it sounds like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is having some regrets about the company’s closed-source approach. “I personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open source strategy,” he wrote in a Reddit AMA last week, first spotted by TechCrunch. “Not everyone at OpenAI shares this view, and it’s also not our current highest priority.” Instead of focusing on open-source AI models, OpenAI is currently looking to raise tens of billions of dollars to “fund its money-losing business operations,” as the Wall Street Journal reported last week. Altman has also actively cozied up to president Donald Trump, signing on to an extremely ambitious $500 billion AI infrastructure project dubbed Stargate. In short, open source initiatives aren’t even close to the company’s top priority. On the contrary, OpenAI has accused…Sam Altman Regrets Ditching Open Source, Says He's Been on the "Wrong Side of History"