WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Republican Senator Jim Banks

is urging the Trump administration to develop incentives to

encourage U.S. tech companies to develop open-weight AI models,

according to a letter released on Friday, adding to a growing

debate over the industry's future.

Open-weight models are AI systems with publicly accessible core

elements, such as Meta's Muse Glimmer, Nvidia's ( NVDA )

Nemotron and startup Thinking Machines' Inkling. Users

can download and fine-tune them for specific tasks, and they can

be cheaper for cost-conscious customers.

Closed-weight AI tools are generally regarded as more capable,

and their creators retain control over their components. Key

examples include OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and

Google's Gemini.

Open-weight AI models from Chinese firms are becoming

increasingly popular in the U.S., prompting security concerns in

Washington that Chinese companies could gain an edge in a

segment of the AI industry.

Banks, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee that

oversees national security issues, asked U.S. President Donald

Trump's administration to devise options to "limit dependence"

on Chinese-made open-weight models, adding that the U.S.

government must also make it harder for those firms to use

American semiconductors to build their products.

"America cannot afford to see Chinese open models proliferate

and burrow into the global economy only to be weaponized, like

rare earths, at a time and place of China's choosing," Banks

wrote in a letter to Trump's economic adviser Christopher

Phelan.

With his letter, Banks joins a debate that has split the tech

industry. Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Meta, joined by dozens of U.S. tech

companies and venture capital firms, urged policymakers in July

not to restrict open-weight AI, while Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei

has said open-weight models could present a security risk,

adding it is harder to monitor their usage.