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MAGA Is Winning Its War Against U.S. Science
Source: NBER With all the other terrible news right now, you may not have noticed that Donald Trump is in the process of killing American science. OK, that’s an exaggeration — but not that much of an exaggeration. The Trump administration’s latest budget proposal calls for a gigantic increase in military spending combined with severe cuts to social programs. But as the chart above shows, it also calls for debilitating reductions in research funding. Furthermore, Trump appointees have already been strangling science by sharply reducing the rate at which research grants are approved. Here, for example, is the number of new grants approved by the National Science Foundation: Source: Nature Large numbers of existing grants have also been frozen or terminated, especially in the study of infectious diseases. Add to this a sharp drop in visas issued to foreign students, who often play a direct role in research and who help support academic departments that do research: Put all of this together, and much U.S. scientific research is set to come to a screeching halt — not a few years from now, but over the course of the next year or two. This new assault on U.S. science is taking place at a time when the role of American science in the world has already been greatly eroded. The chart below, based on research recently reported by the National Bureau of Economic Research, measures national strength in science by the share of publications in highly ranked journals. In the 1990s the United States had more such publications than the rest of the world combined. Since then we’ve dropped into third place — well behind China and slightly below the European Union. And this was before the Trump administration’s attack on science had time to take its full effect. Source Some erosion in U.S. scientific preeminence was inevitable given China’s growing sophistication and wealth. But we’ve also fallen behind Europe, even though everyone says that Europe is lagging economically and technologically. Claims about Europe’s underperformance are, in fact, dubious if one looks hard at the data. But it’s still striking to see America lagging. What’s going on? There are presumably multiple factors behind America’s scientific lag. But even before Trump II the growing hostility of the U.S. right to science surely had some negative effect. And since the rise of MAGA G.O.P. attitudes toward science in general have become overwhelmingly hostile. This is true even for the Republican rank and file: And while I haven’t been able to find good survey data, it’s obvious that the anti-science turn has been even more pronounced — and began earlier — among the Republican political elite. Chris Mooney published The Republican War on Science in 2005, and even then was describing a longstanding trend. Why have Republicans turned so anti-science? Part of the answer is that they believe that scientists don’t support them. And they’re right! A study of who scientists give money to shows that only a small percentage gave money to Republicans even 20 years ago, and that almost none of them donate to Republicans now: Social scientists have always been strongly pro-Democratic, while there used to be a significant number of physical, “hard” scientists supporting the GOP. But these days physicists are almost as uniformly Democratic, or at least non-Republican, as sociologists. Why are there almost no Republican scientists? It’s not a mystery. GOP political orthodoxy includes positions that are at odds with the scientific consensus on multiple issues, ranging from the validity of the theory of evolution, to the reality of climate change, to the efficacy and safety of vaccines. In each case the scientific consensus is solidly grounded in evidence. But even before the rise of MAGA the U.S. right was increasingly hostile to evidence-based policymaking — especially, of course, where the evidence is unfavorable to fossil fuel interests or quack medicine, both financial mainstays of right-wing politics. So scientists don’t support Republicans, and the feeling is mutual. Today’s Republican Party doesn’t like science or scientists. It doesn’t like having its preconceived views challenged by appeals to evidence. It knows that very few scientists are on its side electorally. In general, it sees scientific research as a threat to its grasp on political power. Add in MAGA’s combination of rabid anti-intellectualism and allergy to any hint of criticism, and one has the makings of a drastic anti-science turn in policy. “Ignorance is strength” might was well be an official MAGA motto. And as I said, we aren’t talking about something that will happen over the course of multiple years: The U.S. scientific enterprise is threatened with severe damage, even collapse, over just the next year. There are many reasons to find this prospect horrifying: Think of all the beneficial advances, affecting almost every part of life, that won’t happen because U.S. science — still crucial to the world — has been eviscerated. But think, also, of America’s international standing. Can a nation that has forfeited its role as a leader, or even a contender, in global science, still be a Great Power? No. MUSICAL CODA
Copying Farage and Polanski Is the Road to Political Oblivion
As John Major came to the lectern to deliver the annual Attlee Foundation Lecture in London recently, he acknowledged the incongruity of a Conservative ex-prime minister offering up a paean to the man whose legacy is honored at the event. Clement Attlee is considered Labour’s greatest occupant of 10 Downing Street.
Test your entertainment knowledge!
These Hollywood icons were born on this date. Which was born in Detroit?
Earth’s most powerful ocean current didn’t form the way we thought
A colossal ocean current encircling Antarctica—stronger than all the world’s rivers combined—played a far more complex role in shaping Earth’s climate than scientists once thought. New research shows it didn’t form just because ocean gateways opened, but required shifting continents and powerful winds to align. This shift helped pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, contributing to a major cooling event that transformed Earth into the ice-covered world we know today.
Empowering Young Hmong to Make Health Choices
A Hmong community has used the Lao PDR Gender Equity Innovation Fund to improve sexual and reproductive health knowledge so they can better plan their futures
Wireless Festival boss stands by Ye headlining concerts as sponsors pull out
As sponsors pull out from London’s Wireless Festival over headliner Ye, its organizer is standing by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Wireless Festival boss stands by Ye headlining concerts as sponsors pull out
As sponsors pull out from London’s Wireless Festival over headliner Ye, its organizer is standing by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
3 Things to Know: Brands and Social Issues, Adult Recreational Sports League Participation Rebounds, and Sports Betting Partnerships
CivicScience has the world’s largest proprietary database of real-time declared intent, allowing brands to activate high-performing advertising that drives up to 80% better performance. See how our partners achieve superior marketing outcomes here. 1. Consumers hold mixed expectations on brand activism, with Democrats more likely to switch or boycott based on personal values, while Republicans [...]Read More... from 3 Things to Know: Brands and Social Issues, Adult Recreational Sports League Participation Rebounds, and Sports Betting Partnerships
From Jurassic Park to dreams of AI doom, pop culture shapes science more than we like to admit
We all know science influences books, movies and TV – but the influence goes both ways.
The CEO’s Guide To Starting A Business
This week's Forbes CEO newsletter is dedicated to what leaders need to know when starting their own businesses.
Ten Exits SM Entertainment, But Stays With WayV and NCT ‘Where Possible’
Here's what to know about his departure.
Behind the Scenes with the Bachelor of Business Administration
Attracting students from a range of backgrounds, Empire State University’s Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) helps students certify the knowledge they’ve gained through work experience, gain foundational skills that are applicable industry-wide, and specialize in their areas of interest to pursue their dream careers. Whether learners are looking for an entry point into further education, […]
Classical Music Chicago: splendid performances available on demand
Access to a computer gives you incredible access to a vast collection of material, and classical music enthusiasts know that this includes high-quality recorded musical performances (as well as live
Mark Consuelos emotionally announces death of his father, Kelly Ripa calls him 'greatest person'
Mark Consuelos emotionally announced the death of his father Saul Consuelos during Monday's 'Live With Kelly and Mark,' while Kelly Ripa praised her father-in-law as 'the greatest person I've ever known.'
Travel blogger’s new book offers ‘52 Weekends in the Pacific Northwest’
Kara Patajo, also known as Your Northwestie Bestie online, treats every day in the Pacific Northwest like an adventure.
Google Pixel teases ‘exclusive’ new model, and we might already know what it is
We’re not due for any new Google Pixel phones in the near future, but a surprise teaser has just dropped...
Scientists may have found a way to keep your bones strong for life
Scientists have identified a little-known receptor, GPR133, as a powerful regulator of bone strength. By activating it with a newly discovered compound called AP503, they were able to boost bone density in mice and counteract osteoporosis-like damage. The finding opens the door to a new kind of treatment that could not only prevent bone loss but also rebuild weakened bones, offering fresh hope for millions affected by osteoporosis, especially aging populations.
UEFA confirm referee team for Arsenal’s game at Sporting
Arsenal now know who will take charge of their Champions League quarter-final first leg in Lisbon, with UEFA confirming an all-German officiating team for the meeting with Sporting.Photo by Julian Fin...
Shingles can hit younger than you think. The vaccine can prevent excruciating pain
A reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox, the illness can be miserable. Here's what to know about early warning signs, long-term symptoms and some surprising news about the vaccine.
Wildcat Check-in Week highlights campus mental health support
The University of Kentucky will host its inaugural Wildcat Check-in Week April 6-10, a campuswide initiative focused on mental health and suicide prevention as well as strengthening a culture of care across the UK community.
Weekend News Roundup
It was an eventful long weekend for Jays news. The big one was that Alejandro Kirk fractured and dislocated his thumb on an Austin Hays foul tip late in Friday’s game. His actual prognosis won’t be known until he meets with specialists on Monday. In the best case scenario, though, it’ll be several weeks before […]
No Time to Read, Plenty to Say
In an era where information is increasingly packaged as entertainment and consumed rapidly, the transmission of meaning has become more fragile. Writers, technologists, and institutions alike are realizing that communication is a complex interaction shaped by audience habits, digital tools, and shifting cultural norms. Each alteration not only affects what we know but also how we understand. The result is a growing tension between expression and interpretation. One that challenges our assumptions about knowledge, attention, and responsibility in the modern world.
Stephen Miller Is Still Pursuing His Immigration Agenda, but More Quietly
Far from acknowledging defeat, Stephen Miller appears to have adjusted his strategy in an effort to minimize political fallout. He has remained steadfast in his view that the administration should act to reverse openness to migration.
Shorthanded Cavs beat even more shorthanded Pacers, 117-108
A gender reveal, nine missing players and two losses from guaranteeing the best lottery odds; what to know about Pacers loss to Cavs
5 Things You Didn't Know Your Apple Watch Can Do In 2026
Your Apple Watch brings you a ton of capability to your wrist -- calls, texts, exercise tracking, etc. -- but there are more functions you should know about.
Michigan, historic UConn fight to be last team standing Monday
INDIANAPOLIS -- For the third time in his decorated college career, Alex Karaban and UConn are in the Final Four. As tipoff for the 2026 national championship game approaches, Karaban knows only one way to leave the court on Monday night when the Huskies play Michigan in the main event of the NCAA Tournament.
National Championship preview: Key trends to know ahead of the Michigan vs. UConn NCAA Tournament title clash
Styles make fights, and contrasting schemes make UConn-Michigan tilt such a fascinating chess match.
Everything to know of 2026 Men's NCAA Tournament championship game
Only one more game remains before March Madness crowns its next basketball champion. Here's what you need to know about the men's title game:
2026 NCAA national championship live stream: March Madness TV schedule, watch streaming online Monday
Everything you need to know and how to watch Monday's national championship game
Arc Raiders improves crafting, says new "streamlined system" is "just the start"
Arc Raiders is reworking its crafting system after acknowledging the "one piece of feedback [that] kept coming up" from…
What to know about the Kansas sports authority that will oversee the new Chiefs stadium
Kansas lawmakers have voted to create an 11-member sports authority to carry out a $3 billion stadium deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. Here's a guide to the sports authority's responsibilities, membership and more.
5 Things You Never Knew Google Photos Could Actually Do
While Google Photos is known for organizing and storing photos in the cloud, it can do a lot more now, such as making reels for you and adding music to clips.
I finally stopped letting my phone's default settings limit me, thanks to this little-known Android power utility
I can now see the bigger picture of why battery drain happens on the system level
What Happened To Zenith TVs? Why The American Brand Disappeared
At its height, Zenith was a premier American TV manufacturer well known for top-of-the-line sets. So, what went wrong that caused the brand to disappear?
Microplastics have been found everywhere. That's a problem for research
Microplastics scientists are finding the tiny particles everywhere, even in their own research laboratories. So how do they know if what they're finding is in the sample or contamination from plastic fibers floating in the air?
No experience needed? Novices, newcomers dominate field in SC’s open coastal seat in US Congress.
SC’s 1st Congressional District race is packed with outsiders — just five candidates have ever held elected office. Mark Sanford’s surprise entry is reshaping an already crowded primary and making the path tougher for lesser-known hopefuls.
Double Take -- Giese: Free market must be part of health care solution
If there is a “next” chapter in the Democrats’ deceitfully presented, deceptively titled and unilaterally imposed “Affordable Care Act,” commonly known as Obamacare, it will be added to a law
Move More, Live Healthier Lives: Special Olympics Health Messengers and Coaches Inspiring Their Communities to Get Moving
On World Day for Physical Activity, we’re highlighting Athlete Leaders and a coach who have taken on a variety of leadership roles to empower athletes to stay active year-round. Get to know them!
Next Level Games wanted Link in Mario Strikers Charged
According to a developer that worked on Mario Strikers Charged, there was some consideration for having Link in Mario Strikers Charged. As a Mario game, Strikers Charged expectedly stuck with characters associated with that franchise. However, there was the possibility of bringing in that famous character from The Legend of Zelda. That tidbit was shared today by Did You Know...
Braiding knowledge: how Indigenous expertise and western science are converging
Researchers are weaving Native practices with western methods to revive ecosystems and reclaim food sovereignty
Album Review: 6WA by BigXthaPlug & 600 Entertainment
BigXthaPlug spent eight months in Nashville making a country-rap album that debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, put “All the Way” with Bailey Zimmerman at No. 4 on the Hot 100, got him a Rolling Stone cover, and filled arenas with Jelly Roll. And then he came back to Dallas, rounded up four of his signees, and made a gangsta-rap record with N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton on the cover. 6WA is the second group release from 600 Entertainment, named after the 600 block of Meadowridge Street in Ferris, Texas, where BigX and his people grew up. The whole thing is loaded with West Coast samples. From N.W.A.’s “8Ball,” Eazy-E’s “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s” and “Boyz-N-The-Hood,” Ice-T’s “6 in the Mornin’,” Snoop Dogg’s “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and more. BigX is staking his name on the lineup he built—Rosama, MurdaGang PB, Yung Hood, KevanGotBandz, KaineMusic—and claiming a lineage from 1,400 miles away while insisting Dallas is its own thing. A million dollars in cash, split and handed straight to his mother. That’s the first place BigX goes on “From the Bottom.” He’d probably still be in the streets if he didn’t have his son and daughter. He only started rapping to make life better for Carter. Couldn’t start his car back then, now people get starstruck at Starbucks, and he throws the whole field away in one sentence: “How you think we competin’? You on the same bag, I just made me some millions off country.” Goyard bags off a Nashville payday, and he wants you to know exactly how far he’s come from everybody else. “Safe to Say” does something similar but looser. It’s a straight Ice Cube “It Was a Good Day” flip, and BigX nails it. Wakes up, checks both phones, nobody’s locked up, kid accounts look good. Gets pulled over, only catches a warning. Pulls up on the squad to liquor, ladies, and haze. Rosama takes the second verse and matches him. Wakes up to his girl cleaning his cuticles, twins playing peekaboo, pays off his car, calls a cousin, sees the opps and they don’t trip. Lawyer calls, he beat his case. Rosama is the strongest voice in the 600 camp after BigX, and “Life of a Gangster” is why. Third person, riding low, blacked-out windows, snub-nose revolver. A character who chose sticking people up over selling dope. “Quick eraser like a number-two pencil.” He never breaks character, and his delivery drops lower and slower than anything he does on the group cuts, like he’s telling you something at a cookout that he probably shouldn’t. Then on “Long Live Fre$h” he’s a completely different rapper. “Short-bus diamonds, these bitches retarded,” wide-body Durango he can’t even park. That kind of range matters on a group record. MurdaGang PB’s best verse is on the title track. Feds at his door at 6 AM, cameras busted, flushing dope, ram truck putting everybody on the floor. Yung Hood on “The Hottest” just lays out four reasons to keep hustling. Who wants to be broke, women cost money, you need bail, and home has to be straight. It’s funnier and more honest than most rappers get when they’re trying to explain why they sell drugs. KevanGotBandz on “Ain’t Never Slowin’ Down” talks about his father getting caught on the dope while he’s sitting on $300K somewhere in the hills, which is a specific kind of guilt that doesn’t usually make it onto crew tapes. KaineMusic, the newest signee, takes the back half of “Who Dunnit” and introduces herself in third person—“Took flight just to show these hoes how to perform”—but it’s too short to know if she can hold a full song. The flex tracks fill the middle of the LP and mostly run together. “I Go” is Rosama and PB trading brands, guns, and food punchlines. Rosama’s “anemic, my iron tucked low in this shirt” is a slick gun bar, PB fires back with “.223 with a clip ‘bout as big as a toddler” and “I go Burger King, stay with that whopper.” Quick, funny sometimes, but it’s all shopping lists. “Dopeman” is a chant. “6ixer Party” brings Snoop Dogg, who does exactly what you’d expect Snoop Dogg to do. BigX contributes the night’s wildest overshare: “She say she brought a friend too, well, I’m tryna put sausage on her dental.” These songs move fast and don’t overstay, but three or four of them could trade verses and nobody would catch it. Midway through, The D.O.C. shows up for a spoken-word interlude. Tracy Curry. West Dallas native, former N.W.A affiliate, co-writer on a lot of the records getting sampled on this very album. He thanks BigX for the tribute and then gets direct: “This your time, this DFW time. You need to do it like we do it down here.” Leave bread crumbs so everybody behind you can eat. Keep God in your life. It’s fatherly and generous, and it does raise the question of whether 6WA follows that advice. The album borrows heavy. The cover art, the Eazy-E samples, “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” opening with a direct “Boyz-N-The-Hood” lift, Yung Hood rapping “Flag on my left side, Crip until I die.” But the stuff that actually stays with you is Dallas. BigX talking about Pleasant Grove, Rosama calling himself a country boy, PB recounting a raid that could’ve been last Tuesday. The record smells most like itself when it smells like Ferris, Texas, and least like Compton. BigX on “The Hottest” says his father was the first person he knew who had chickens. Not the way rappers usually wave at the drug trade. He means his actual father, his actual family. On “600 Degrees,” Rosama compares his chopper’s stutter to a speech disorder, PB claims he still has the block on his back even after leaving the city. BigX closes that one saying he used to spin and smack, and now the plaques are platinum. Thirty-two minutes was right for this. Nobody overstays, Tony Coles and Rance and Charley Cooks keep the production punchy, and BigX gives his signees real room instead of crowding every song. 6WA doesn’t reinvent anything. Five rappers, good beats, short clock. Most of what they say you’ve heard before. Some of it—the million to his mother, the cuticles and peekaboo, the four reasons to hustle—you won’t forget. Solid (★★★½☆) Favorite Track(s): “Safe to Say,” “From the Bottom,” “The Hottest” Subscribe
What is Cicada COVID? Is it in Arizona yet? All about variant BA.3.2
Vaccination and past infection may not protect against a new strain of the COVID-19 virus known as Cicada. Here's what you need to know.
H.264 streaming license fees were raised to as much as $4.5 million, open standards now look even more attractive
Via LA raises H.264 streaming fees for new licensees, existing deals stay unchanged Via Licensing Alliance has updated its H.264, also known as AVC,
Reducing friction in ARC Raiders
ARC Raiders is a multiplayer extraction adventure, set in a lethal future earth, ravaged by a mysterious mechanized threat known as ARC.
R&B world rocked by legend’s death at 86: ‘We lost a giant’
He was a legend who was known for playing with other legends.
Previously Unknown Human Lineage Discovered In Northern East Asia Survived And Adapted After The Ice Age Ended
The results suggest these hunter-gatherers persisted and adapted to a warming world, rather than being quickly replaced by farmers.
Sony TCL Deal Reshapes Home Entertainment Role And Investor Focus
Sony Group (TSE:6758) has agreed to form a new home entertainment joint venture with TCL. The deal transfers a majority stake and global TV and audio product operations to TCL, including manufacturing facilities. The partnership affects Sony branded consumer TVs and audio products across key international markets. Sony Group (TSE:6758) is known for its entertainment, gaming, imaging, and consumer electronics businesses, with TVs and audio products serving as core branded offerings. The new...
Weekend reads: Half of social science ‘doesn’t replicate’; ‘Scientific ghosts: Life after retraction’; multisensory learning paper retracted
If your week flew by — we know ours did — catch up here with what you might have missed. The week at Retraction Watch featured: A citation alert led researchers to a network of fake articles. But w…
The night Geno Auriemma snapped — and Dawn Staley showed the game has changed
A power dynamic shift is happening at the top of women's basketball. And Auriemma knows it.
Scientists discover fossils that change what we know about evolution
Scientists have discovered fossils in China that reveal a crucial transition from simple to complex life on Earth
Ye attempts a comeback with sold-out LA-area concert, support from Lauryn Hill
The artist formerly and possibly again known as Kanye West reveled in support from one of his musical idols, Lauryn Hill, as he staged a sold-out Southern California concert meant to mark a comeback...
Ye attempts a comeback with sold-out LA-area concert, support from Lauryn Hill
The artist formerly and possibly again known as Kanye West reveled in support from one of his musical idols, Lauryn Hill, as he staged a sold-out Southern California concert meant to mark a comeback from years of controversy.
LinkedIn Hidden Code Secretly Searches Your Browser for Installed Extensions
Every time you open LinkedIn in a Chrome-based browser, hidden JavaScript silently scans your computer for installed software without your knowledge, without your consent, and without a single word in LinkedIn's privacy policy.
Oregon health officials warn measles cases could continue to rise
According to the Oregon Health Authority, the majority of those cases are due to people being unvaccinated or having an unknown vaccination status.
Karpathy shares 'LLM Knowledge Base' architecture that bypasses RAG with an evolving markdown library maintained by AI
Karpathy proposes something simpler and more loosely, messily elegant than the typical enterprise solution of a vector database and RAG pipeline.
Why 'Paradise' Is The Most Addictive Show On TV & Everything We Know About Season 3
From Xavier's heroics to Sinatra's sacrifice, Paradise Season 2 ended with a bang. Here’s everything we know about Season 3.
90 Painfully Relatable Programming Memes That Might Just Break Your Brain (New Pics)
Every job has its quirks. But some feel almost like a world of their own. Like programming—we (indirectly) interact with it every day, yet many of us know surprisingly little when it comes to what actually goes on behind the screens. The subreddit ‘Programmer Humor’ is the perfect place to bridge this gap. It allows them—and pretty much everyone involved in computer science—to air their frustrations and give the rest of us a better understanding of what their day-to-day really looks like. Here a
From Hollywood headlines to Heartland buzz: Are you on the pulse?
Test your knowledge of entertainment with this quiz on celebrities, trends and headline-making moments. Featured this week: celebrity scandals and guess the celebrity photo.
iFixIt tears down the new AirPods Max 2, isn’t surprised
You know the drill: new Apple product, new iFixIt teardown. Here’s what they found when they dug into the new AirPods Max 2.
Apple issues warning to millions of iPhone users over sophisticated attack stealing data: Act NOW
Apple has issued an emergency update for millions of iPhone users, urging them to act now to prevent their data from being stolen.
What time is UConn vs South Carolina in Final Four? Start time, location, TV Channel
Everything you need to know to tune into No. 1 UConn Huskies vs No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks including start time and streaming options for the Final Four
What time is UCLA vs Texas in Final Four today? Start time, location, TV Channel
Everything you need to know to tune into No. 1 UCLA Bruins vs 1 Texas Longhorns including start time and streaming options for the Final Four
The Happy Accident: How Benetta MacAuley Found Her Joy in Materials Science and Music
Benetta MacAuley didn't know materials science was a major when she applied to UC Davis. Now the senior investigates sustainable cement alternatives and leads the viola section of the Video Game Orchestra, proving that the best paths are often unplanned.
What's next for North Carolina coaching search after Tommy Lloyd inks new deal with Arizona?
Here are the top names to know for the Tar Heels after Tommy Lloyd's decision.
Quiz: This week in politics
It was another busy week in national politics. Take this quiz to see what you know and what you missed.
Quiz: This week in politics
It was another busy week in national politics. Take this quiz to see what you know and what you missed.
Quiz: This week in politics
It was another busy week in national politics. Take this quiz to see what you know and what you missed.
Quiz: This week in politics
It was another busy week in national politics. Take this quiz to see what you know and what you missed.
Gemma 4 and what makes an open model succeed
Having written a lot of model release blog posts, there’s something much harder about reviewing open models when they drop relative to closed models, especially in 2026. In recent years, there were so few open models, so when Llama 3 was released most people were still doing research on Llama 2 and super happy to get an update. When Qwen 3 was released, the Llama 4 fiasco had just gone down, and a whole research community was emerging to study RL on Qwen 2.5 — it was a no brainer to upgrade. Today, when an open model releases, it’s competing with Qwen 3.5, Kimi K2.5, GLM 5, MiniMax M2.5, GPT-OSS, Arcee Large, Nemotron 3, Olmo 3, and others. The space is populated, but still feels full of hidden opportunity. The potential of open models feels like a dark matter, a potential we know is huge, but few clear recipes and examples for how to unlock it are out there. Agentic AI, OpenClaw, and everything brewing in that space is going to spur mass experimentation in open models to complement the likes of Claude and Codex, not replace them. Especially with open models, the benchmarks at release are an extremely incomplete story. In some ways this is exciting, as new open models have a much higher variance and ability to surprise, but it also points at some structural reasons that make building businesses and great AI experiences around open models harder than the closed alternatives. When a new Claude Opus or GPT drops, spending a few hours with them in my agentic workflows is genuinely a good vibe test. For open models, putting them through this test is a category error. Something else to be said about open models in the era of agents is that they get out of the debate of integration, harnesses, and tools and let us see close to the ground on what exactly is the ability of just a model. Of course, we can’t test some things like search abilities without some tool, but being able to measure exactly the pace of progress of the model alone is a welcome simplification to a systematically opaque AI space. Share The list of factors I’d use to assess a new open-weight model I’m considering investing in includes: Model performance (and size) — how this model performs on benchmarks I care about and how it compares to other models of a similar size. Country of origin — some businesses care deeply about provenance, and if a model was built in China or not. Model license — if a model needs legal approval for use, uptake will be slower at mid-sized and large companies. Tooling at release — many models release with half-broken, or at least substantially slower, implementations in popular software like vLLM, Transformers, SGLANG, etc due to pushing the envelope of architectures or tools. Model fine-tunability — how easy or hard it is to modify the given model to your use-case when you actually try and use it. The core problem is that some of these are immediately available at release, e.g. general performance, license, origin, etc. but others such as tooling take day(s) to week(s) to stabilize, and others are open research questions — with no group systematically monitoring fine-tunability. In the early era of open models, the days of Llama 2 or 3 and Qwen pre v3.5, the architectures were fairly simple and the models tended to work out of the box. Some of this was due to the extremely hard work of the Llama, Qwen, Mistral, etc. developer teams. Some is due to the new models being genuinely harder to work with. When it comes to something like Qwen 3.5 or Nemotron 3, with hybrid models (either gated delta net or mamba layers), the tooling is very rough at release. Things you would expect to “just work” often don’t. I’ve been following this area closely since we released Olmo Hybrid with a similar architecture, and Qwen 3.5 is just starting to work well in the various open-source tools that need to all play nice together for RL research. That’s 1.5 months after the release date! This is just to start really investing more into understanding the behavior of the models. Of course, others started working on these models sooner by investing more engineering resources or relying on partially closed software. The fully open and distributed ecosystem takes a long time to get going on some new models. All of this is lead-in for the most important question for open models — how easy is it to adapt to specific use-cases? This is a different problem for different model sizes. Large MoE open-weight models may be used by entities like Cursor who need complex capabilities in their domain, e.g. Composer 2 trained on Kimi K2.5. Other applications can be built on much smaller models, such as Chroma’s Context-1 model for agentic search, built on GPT-OSS 20B. The question of “which models are fine-tunable” is largely background knowledge known by engineers across the industry. There should be a thriving research area here to support the open ecosystem model. The first step is to understand characteristics of different base and post-trained models to understand what they look like. The second step is to tune pretraining recipes for open models so they’re more flexible. Interconnects AI is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe For The ATOM Project and other Interconnects endeavors, we’ve put in substantial effort to measuring adoption trends in the open ecosystem. Everything takes a long time to unfold after a model is first publicly available — and adaptability is why. What we know for sure now, when Qwen has been going from strength to strength with its releases, is that technical staff across the industry has gotten comfortable working with Qwen models. Countless research methods and datasets were made to work with Qwen. It’ll take patience for any other model family to get to this point — a patience I’m not sure many open model builders have. This takes us to Gemma 4, Google’s latest open models. Gemma 3 was released more than a year ago, in March of 2025, and is a bit underrated. Gemma 4 comes in 4 sizes for now, with a bigger, MoE model of over 100B total parameters rumored but not released yet. The models we have today come in sizes of ~5B dense, 8B dense, 26B total 4B active MoE, and 31B dense. I’m most excited that they’re finally adopting a standard Apache 2.0 open source license. This’ll massively boost adoption. The standard of better licenses for strong open-weight LLMs was set by mostly Chinese open model labs in the last 1-2 years, and now U.S. companies are following suit. I will personally be so happy if the horrible Llama licenses and Gemma terms of service were an ~18-month transient dynamic of the industry being nervous about releasing strong open models. The Gemma 4 scores look very solid, the small models have incredible benchmark scores (especially in general domains like LMArena) and the 31B model rivals the recent Qwen 3.5 27B, which is the leading member of that class. The ~30B size range is an important one, as it’s accessible both to researchers and to enterprises looking to deploy the model in real use-cases. Where the 7B model scale is the default for tinkering and research, a 30B model is the default for seeing if an open model can unlock substantial value in your specific workflow — a good mix of intelligence, low price, tractability for downstream training, etc. This takes us back to the above adoption criteria I mentioned for open models and the bigger question — do I think Gemma 4 will be an overwhelming success? Previous Gemma models have been plagued by tooling issues and poorer performance when being finetuned. Gemma 4’s success is going to be entirely determined by ease of use, to a point where a 5-10% swing on benchmarks wouldn’t matter at all. It’s strong enough, small enough, with the right license, and from the U.S., so many companies are going to slot it in. I’m cautiously optimistic that Gemma 4 is going to work better here. Winds are shifting for open models built in America. We saw GPT-OSS go through a bumpy launch to become an overwhelming success. There’s a collective energy around the likes of Reflection, Arcee, Nemotron, Gemma, Olmo, and peers that show substantial demand for building new stacks around open models. There’s capital to be spent on AI stacks across the economy by those who want more ownership of everything, including the model. After launching The ATOM Project 240 days ago, the conversation is shifting into the next stage. Summer of 2025 was a crisis moment where the U.S. AI scene realized it can’t wait and figure out open models after building AGI. The two markets will capture different areas and proceed in parallel. Now that more companies in the U.S. are releasing strong models, we need to improve the ecosystem so that these models are easy to use, understand, and build value around. It’s the hard work to build another inflection point in these adoption plots I’ve been updating consistently, but that’s the work to be done. Join me in it. More data coming soon! Here’s a sneak peek:
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