Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt called for the United States to ramp up open source AI efforts to address the rise of DeepSeek in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday.

Just last year, Schmidt said America was two or three years ahead of China . But DeepSeek’s rise marks “a turning point” for the global AI race, Schmidt said in the op-ed, proving China can compete with Big Tech using fewer resources.

To combat DeepSeek, Schmidt says America must develop more open source models, invest in AI infrastructure efforts like Stargate , and encourage leading labs to share their training methodologies.

Schmidt has previously urged the U.S. to invest in AI , a recommendation his investments may benefit from. Schmidt’s White Stork startup could supply the U.S. military with AI drones one day . He’s also an investor in Holistic AI , which helps companies comply with AI regulation, as well as Augment, a rival to GitHub Copilot that uses open models.