Who controls new technology?
Since the Industrial Revolution, every major technology has gone one of two ways: shared openly for everyone to use, or locked down by a government or military. This page tracks that balance over time — from steam engines to nuclear weapons to today’s AI chips.
Cumulative weighted count of curated events since 1793.Net balance: -2 (net control)
Timeline
2026
China's updated Export Licensing Catalogue adds samarium, gadolinium and lutetium compounds plus silver
control · weight 3 · dual-use
2026
China escalates rare-earth restrictions again, widening targets to EU as well as US firms
control · weight 3 · dual-use
2026
EU AI Act enforcement powers over general-purpose AI models begin to apply
control · weight 2 · ai
2026
BIS final rule moves advanced-chip exports to China to case-by-case review, while keeping frontier Blackwell-class parts barred
openness · weight 3 · ai
2026
DeepSeek releases V4 open-weight models (284B and 1.6T) under the MIT licence
openness · weight 4 · ai
2025
BIS 'AI Diffusion Rule' published, tiering the whole world's access to advanced GPUs
control · weight 5 · ai
2025
China places indium under export licensing, then restricts seven heavy rare earth elements in April
control · weight 4 · dual-use
2025
US requires export licences for Nvidia H20 sales to China, halting compliant AI-chip shipments
control · weight 3 · ai
2025
EU AI Act general-purpose AI obligations take effect, with a partial open-source exemption
control · weight 2 · ai
2025
China extends rare-earth controls to processing technology and expertise, with extraterritorial reach
control · weight 4 · dual-use
2025
European Commission proposes the EU Biotech Act, adding nucleic-acid synthesis screening
control · weight 3 · biotech
2025
Meta releases Llama 4 open-weight models under its community licence
openness · weight 3 · ai
2025
BIS rescinds the AI Diffusion Rule before it takes effect
openness · weight 4 · ai
2025
US reverses course and approves Nvidia H20 / AMD MI308 export licences for China
openness · weight 2 · ai
2025
OpenAI releases gpt-oss-120b/20b under Apache 2.0 — its first open weights since GPT-2
openness · weight 4 · ai
2025
US agrees to permit Nvidia H200-class exports to approved Chinese buyers for a 25% revenue share
openness · weight 3 · ai
2024
US expands AI-chip entity list, adding Chinese fab and toolmaker suppliers
control · weight 3 · ai
2024
DeepSeek and other open-weight frontier-adjacent AI models released from China
openness · weight 3 · ai
2023
Netherlands restricts ASML EUV/DUV lithography exports under US pressure
control · weight 4 · ai
2023
Meta releases Llama model weights, kickstarting open-weight AI model ecosystem
openness · weight 4 · ai
2022
US imposes sweeping export controls on advanced AI chips and EUV lithography tools to China
control · weight 5 · ai
2021
COVID-19 vaccine IP waiver blocked / patent protections largely retained by manufacturers
control · weight 2 · biotech
2020
COVID-19 mRNA vaccine platform data shared rapidly across research institutions
openness · weight 3 · biotech
2018
US restricts semiconductor/AI-relevant tech sales to Huawei and Chinese military-linked firms
control · weight 3 · dual-use
2012
CRISPR gene-editing mechanism published openly, triggering patent disputes but rapid academic diffusion
openness · weight 3 · biotech
2004
Linux and open-source software reach mainstream enterprise adoption
openness · weight 2 · computing
2003
Human Genome Project publishes complete sequence publicly, patent-free
openness · weight 4 · biotech
2000
GPS Selective Availability turned off — full-accuracy civilian GPS worldwide
openness · weight 4 · dual-use
2000
US eases encryption export rules after 'Crypto Wars' litigation losses
openness · weight 3 · cryptography
1996
Wassenaar Arrangement replaces COCOM, continues dual-use export controls
control · weight 2 · dual-use
1991
World Wide Web released royalty-free to the public by CERN
openness · weight 5 · computing
1990
'Crypto Wars' intensify — US restricts strong encryption export (Clipper Chip proposal, 1993)
control · weight 3 · cryptography
1983
GPS opened for limited civilian use after Korean Air Lines Flight 007 shootdown
openness · weight 3 · dual-use
1980
US classifies cryptography as a munition under ITAR, restricting export
control · weight 4 · cryptography
1977
RSA encryption algorithm published in Scientific American
openness · weight 3 · cryptography
1974
Public-key cryptography (Diffie–Hellman) published openly over NSA objections
openness · weight 4 · cryptography
1969
ARPANET first nodes connected — packet-switched networking research, initially military-funded but published openly
openness · weight 3 · computing
1957
COCOM Cold War embargo restricts strategic tech exports to Eastern Bloc
control · weight 4 · dual-use
1953
Eisenhower's 'Atoms for Peace' shares civilian nuclear tech internationally
openness · weight 4 · nuclear
1949
NATO export control coordination begins, precursor to COCOM
control · weight 2 · dual-use
1946
US Atomic Energy Act criminalizes sharing nuclear data, even with wartime allies
control · weight 4 · nuclear
1942
Manhattan Project — nuclear weapons technology classified under strict secrecy
control · weight 5 · nuclear
1939
Nuclear fission research goes secret after Frisch–Peierls memorandum
control · weight 5 · nuclear
1917
US Trading with the Enemy Act — wartime seizure/control of German-owned patents
control · weight 2 · industrial
1895
X-rays publicized almost immediately by Röntgen with no patent
openness · weight 3 · science
1852
Britain restricts machine-tool export to protect industrial lead over Continental rivals
control · weight 2 · industrial
1843
Telegraph patent (Morse) licensed broadly, rapid commercial diffusion
openness · weight 3 · communications
1812
Luddite machine-breaking suppressed by British state to protect factory owners' control of automation
control · weight 2 · industrial
1793
Cotton gin patented, but design widely copied/pirated
openness · weight 2 · industrial