THE LIMITED LETTERS COLLECTIVEIndependent inquiry · Archive edition / 2026
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Position paper / 2024

On the Societal Impact of Open Foundation Models

Sayash Kapoor et al.

Evidence note / abstract-based

What the paper contributes

Examines benefits and risks of broadly available model weights, proposing that misuse risk be assessed against the capabilities already available through other technologies.

Why it belongs here

Turns a broad argument about openness into questions about access, capability and additional risk.

What this does not establish

The authors describe evidence gaps at the time of writing. This historical finding is not a claim about the state of all evidence today.

Read it alongside

AI Safety and Openness

Explore the mechanism

The lab translates a governance question into a hypothetical arrangement. It illustrates assumptions; it does not reproduce the paper’s results or predict an outcome.

Open the accountability lab