AI 2040's Total Research Transparency Plan proposes public AI research
Almost all algorithmic secrets and training runs would be publicly visible immediately.
In a detailed LessWrong post, Thomas Larsen outlines the AI 2040 project's transparency plan for AGI development. The core recommendation is 'Total Research Transparency', where nearly all AI research — algorithms, code, documentation, and experiments — would be immediately visible to the public. Only model weights, significant training data fractions, and a small set of other sensitive information would be kept inside secure datacenters. This approach is designed to satisfy three baseline desiderata: trustless US/China verification of slowdown agreements (each nation can see the other's compute usage), robust model weight security against nation-state adversaries, and ongoing consumer access to frontier AI models (the most informative form of transparency).
Larsen compares Total Research Transparency with three alternatives. Filtered Transparency (Proposal #2) allows only redacted reports, model weights, and researchers to leave a secure boundary. Algorithmic Security (Proposal #3) tightens exfiltration further, while a fourth regime works only for a more aggressive Plan S. The main argument for Total Research Transparency is that it would dramatically improve government and corporate decisionmaking during the critical Plan A phase, and make it harder for either side to abuse power. This is identified as the most concerning failure mode. The post invites discussion on which supplements to crosspost next.
- Total Research Transparency would make all algorithms, code, and training runs publicly visible, with only model weights and some data kept private.
- The plan enables trustless US/China verification of compute usage without relying on mutual trust.
- Consumer access to frontier AI models is considered the most important form of transparency, more valuable than evaluations or high-level descriptions.
Why It Matters
Open AI research could transform safety verification and prevent power abuse by governments and corporations.