OECD links AI openness to innovation and economic growth AI openness can help firms, SMEs and public institutions adapt models to local and sector-specific needs. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has published a discussion paper for the G7 on the potential economic and strategic benefits of AI openness. The paper, prepared at the request of France’s 2026 G7 Presidency, is intended to inform discussions in the G7 Digital and Technology Working Group ahead of the G7 Digital and Technology Ministerial Meeting in Paris. AI openness is defined by the OECD as the broad public availability and ease of access to key artefacts and documentation across the AI stack, including model weights and code, datasets, documentation, safety tooling, and compute resources. The paper examines how openness can affect economic outcomes, innovation dynamics, and national or regional AI ecosystems. The OECD says open-weight AI models are becoming increasingly competitive with proprietary alternatives. According to the paper, open models achieve approximately 90% of the performance of closed models at launch, while often being available at significantly lower cost, resulting in a higher quality-to-price ratio. The paper also finds a positive and statistically significant relationship between AI open-source activity and economic growth across the 33 countries analysed. Using GitHub contributions as a proxy for AI openness, the OECD says the evidence suggests the potential economic benefits of open-source AI activity. Beyond economic performance, the OECD says AI openness can support stronger and more resilient national AI ecosystems by expanding access to models, data, and tools. Open approaches can shift value creation towards downstream layers of the AI stack, where start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, public institutions, and other actors can adapt systems to local or sector-specific needs. The paper also links AI openness to technological sovereignty and strategic autonomy. It says local