Interconnects AI · 2026-11-14 · notable
Nathan Lambert — Jensen Huang's exit is a setback for US open models
In short
Nathan Lambert argues that Jensen Huang's resignation as Nvidia CEO is a major setback for US open-weight models. He expects Huang's open-model funding to dry up and says the US needs its own truly frontier open model lab.
Interconnects AI · 2026-11-14 · 3 sources checked
Interconnects' Nathan Lambert says Huang was the open-model ecosystem's protector, and that support will likely fade.
What is it?
"Open-source AI without Jensen" is Nathan Lambert's response to Jensen Huang stepping down as Nvidia CEO. Lambert calls the resignation "a major setback for the US development of an open model ecosystem" and writes that Huang "has been flooding the zone with funding in a way that will very likely dry up."
How does it work?
The argument starts from Nvidia's incentives. Lambert says the company still has a business reason to back open models, because they spread power away from a few large customers who might build their own chips. But he expects Nvidia to spend the next 24 months stabilizing the company and serving customers, and he says the Nemotron effort has strong people but is not yet "mission accomplished."
Why does it matter?
Lambert claims open-weight models lost a political protector at a risky moment: he expects a major hack involving a popular Chinese open-weight model and worries most about "sloppy regulation" at the state level. He rates Thinking Machines' Inkling 2 Small as the best recent Western open model but still well behind Kimi K3.1 Pro, and he concludes the only lasting fix is to "incubate a truly frontier open model player in the US."
Who is it for?
people tracking open-weight models and AI policy