David Sacks, a prominent investor in artificial intelligence and an advisor to the White House, has issued an alarming warning to US leadership. In his view, the United States is on the verge of losing the technological race to China. As a key argument, Sacks cited the emergence of the new Chinese model Kimi K3, which has already surpassed American counterparts in several critical metrics.

The Regulation Paradox: How Control Stifles Development

According to the businessman, the US has become "entangled" in its own policies. Instead of stimulating innovation, authorities are attempting to restrict the industry by banning the construction of new data centers and forcing developers to submit models for review before release. Sacks advocates for a policy of non-interference, asserting that such measures lead to defeat in global competition.

"This is how the AI race is lost. If we box ourselves into a corner, the rest of the world will not play by our rules," he wrote on the social network X. In a conversation with Axios, he emphasized that a US victory is possible only by following a pro-innovation, pro-infrastructure, and pro-export strategy, previously outlined by Donald Trump. According to Sacks, the danger lies in abandoning this approach in favor of bureaucratic control fueled by fear and corporate interests.

The Breakthrough of the Chinese Model Kimi K3

The situation intensified following the release of a new model from the Chinese startup Moonshot AI. The Kimi K3 model, released just two days ago, demonstrated impressive results in blind tests:

  • In interface development tasks, it outperformed American models Anthropic Fable 5 and OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol.
  • In text tests, Kimi K3 surpassed Opus 4.8, with usage costs being 40% lower.

Developers plan to publish the model's open weights on July 27. This will allow anyone to run and fine-tune the system on their own hardware. Experts note that regulatory uncertainty and high prices for closed American models are driving businesses to switch to open systems.

"Gates of Approval" and Beijing's Competitive Advantage

David Sacks insists on his position: "America won the internet thanks to innovation without permits." He believes the US can still win if it focuses on eliminating risks rather than creating barriers. While the company Anthropic proposes introducing a procedure for authorities to block unsafe models, Sacks sees this as a trap.

In his words, Kimi K3 is direct proof that American "gates of approval" do not work against Beijing. Chinese developers have no intention of passing through these bureaucratic filters. Furthermore, US authorities are unable to control models with open weights that any user can download and modify. Thus, regulatory mechanisms in the US, intended to ensure safety, actually give Chinese developers a significant competitive advantage.