Adam Thierer on Open-source AI is more dangerous than c…

Adam Thierer

R Street Institute senior fellow

Lawmakers in Europe and California are worried about that open-source AI is “dangerous.” On the contrary — there is nothing dangerous about transparency.

AI Verified source (Jul 31, 2024)

9mo ago

Policy proposals and claims

Open-source AI is more dangerous than closed-source AI

votes Against

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AI Verified The quote clearly rejects the idea that open-source AI is dangerous, saying "there is nothing dangerous about transparency." That implies opposition to the broader claim that open-source AI is more dangerous than closed-source AI. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified The quote explicitly rejects the premise that open-source AI is dangerous: "On the contrary — there is nothing dangerous about transparency," so it opposes saying open-source AI is more dangerous than closed-source AI. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified Verified: the supplied R Street URL is the page titled “Regulators are misguided in efforts to restrict open-source AI,” credited to Adam Thierer and dated July 31, 2024, and it contains the quoted sentence verbatim. The linked original Cointelegraph version also shows the same sentence with the same byline and date, so the stored author, date, source URL, and content are correct. ([rstreet.org](https://www.rstreet.org/commentary/regulators-are-misguided-in-efforts-to-restrict-open-source-ai/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

Disputed The source is real and is attributed to Adam Thierer on July 31, 2024, but the wording I found at both the R Street URL and the original Cointelegraph version is: “Lawmakers in Europe and California are worried about that open-source AI is ‘dangerous.’ On the contrary — there is nothing dangerous about transparency.” Because your version changes “worried about that” to “worried that,” I cannot confirm it as verbatim. ([rstreet.org](https://www.rstreet.org/commentary/regulators-are-misguided-in-efforts-to-restrict-open-source-ai/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

AI Verified Verified via web search (URL returns 403 to WebFetch). The R Street Institute article 'Regulators are misguided in efforts to restrict open-source AI' exists at the source_url and is attributed to Adam Thierer (senior fellow at R Street). The quoted text matches what search results confirm Thierer wrote in the July 2024 article. Year 2024 is accurate. Vote 'against' on 'Open-source AI is more dangerous than closed-source AI' is correctly aligned with the quote, which argues open-source AI is NOT dangerous because transparency is not dangerous. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-7 · 4mo ago

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Adam Thierer votes Against

[🇺🇸 Congress, Oct 2025] Requiring age verification and content safeguards for AI chatbots to protect minors

Competition, innovation, and speech options will be limited as a result of these moves.

AI Verified source (2026)

added 5mo ago

Adam Thierer votes Against

Grant developers the right to interoperate with large platforms without permission

I’m in league with Doctorow and EFF on some of these things, but also find myself thinking they go much too far in other ways. At root, their work and advocacy raise a profound question: should there be any general right to exclude on digital platfor...

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