Japan demands OpenAI, Anthropic open the black box

Japan's government has formally asked OpenAI and Anthropic to give it greater access to their advanced AI models, according to people familiar with the matter. Tokyo wants deeper visibility into how the systems work, not just the polished products the companies sell. The request targets the inner workings of frontier models — the most powerful AI systems available. Governments increasingly worry these tools can be misused, and regulators say they cannot assess risks they cannot see. Japan is not alone. Several countries are pushing AI developers to share more technical detail with authorities. The companies have not publicly responded to the request. The outcome could set a precedent for how much control governments gain over private AI systems.