GPT-2: 6-month follow-up

OpenAI has completed its staged release of GPT-2, now making the largest 774 million parameter version publicly available. The organization began with a 124 million parameter model in February, followed by a 355 million version in May, and after partnering with external researchers to study potential misuse and societal impact, it is now releasing the full model. In conjunction, OpenAI published a standard legal agreement to facilitate model-sharing partnerships between organizations and a technical report detailing the coordination process with the broader AI research community on publication norms. For developers building AI workflows, this completion signals that large language models can be responsibly open-sourced with community oversight. However, the staged release approach may serve as a template for future model releases balancing innovation and safety. The open-source legal agreement also provides a framework for sharing models legally, which could lower barriers for collaborative AI development.