China's export rules make a model's origin a procurement question

China has proposed rules that could require government approval before some advanced AI models are exported, The New York Times reports. Washington has controlled chip exports for years; now Beijing is looking at controls on the models themselves.

For businesses outside China, the practical effect is simple: where a model comes from is becoming a supply-chain question. A model that is freely available today could need a licence tomorrow, or have its updates restricted. Teams that have built a product on a single foreign model now carry a dependency they do not control.

The answer is not to avoid good technology. It is to design so that no single model is a point of failure: route between more than one model family, keep your own evaluation of how each performs on your work, and know the governing law of every service you rely on.

We built ELP GPT that way, with our own orchestration and model programme alongside disclosed third-party inference, so we can change routes when terms or availability change. Export rules on either side of the Pacific make that design less of a preference and more of a requirement.

— Edgar Melo Costa, founder

Founder’s notes are opinion. They are not investment, legal or professional advice.