In a move hailed by scientists as both daring and democratic, the American concern known as OpenAI has this week released the inner workings — the "weights," as engineers put it — of two of its newest reasoning engines. These calculating machines, christened GPT-OSS-120B and GPT-OSS-20B, are said to rival the finest electronic minds presently available.

It is the first time in five years that OpenAI has unlatched the door to its intellectual workshop, the last such occurrence being the release of GPT-2 in 2019. In recent years, the firm has jealously guarded its most powerful machines, citing both commercial advantage and the grave risk of misuse.