13+ hour, 47+ min ago (1715+ words) Surveying the state of America's artificial intelligence landscape earlier this year, Misha Laskin was concerned. Laskin, a theoretical physicist and machine learning engineer who helped create some of Google's most powerful AI models, saw a growing embrace among American AI companies of free, customizable and increasingly powerful "open" AI models. But most of these models were being made in China, and these systems were quickly gaining ground on their U.S. competitors. "These models were not that far behind the frontier. In fact, they were surprisingly close to the frontier. The ones that are coming now," Laskin said, pausing slightly, "well they're palpably close to the frontier." Laskin founded a startup called Reflection AI, recently valued at $8 billion, to provide an open-source American alternative to these increasingly capable Chinese models that have gained traction in Silicon Valley. "You're starting to see glimpses…...