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China's AI firms leverage open-source models, eyeing new growth phase
🇨🇳 China /Technology

China's AI firms leverage open-source models, eyeing new growth phase

From South China Morning Post · (6d ago) English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • Chinese AI firms have strategically open-sourced their models, a move that has led to widespread adoption.
  • Alibaba, for example, has seen its Qwen model achieve nearly 1 billion downloads, with the company monetizing cloud services rather than the models themselves.
  • This open-source approach has fueled competition and led to successful listings for domestic startups like DeepSeek, MiniMax, and Zhipu AI.

In China's fiercely competitive technology landscape, the strategy of open-sourcing advanced AI models might seem unusual, but it has proven to be a cornerstone of business development. Alibaba's chairman, Joe Tsai, articulated this vision, suggesting that open-source AI fosters global benefits by reducing costs, making it particularly advantageous for nations with limited resources.

The widespread adoption of models like Alibaba's Qwen, which boasts nearly a billion downloads, highlights the success of this approach. While Alibaba, the parent company of the South China Morning Post, generates revenue through cloud services and inference, it has firmly established open-source AI as a key element of its corporate identity. This strategy has not only driven innovation but also positioned Chinese tech companies at the forefront of global AI development.

We don’t make money from AI, that’s the answer.

— Joe TsaiAlibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai explains the company's strategy of open-sourcing AI models.

The question of how to monetize these freely available models, which by their nature lack traditional intellectual property protections, has been a persistent challenge. However, the emergence of companies like DeepSeek, followed by domestic startups MiniMax and Zhipu AI, demonstrates that a thriving ecosystem can be built around open-source AI. These companies have leveraged this strategy to achieve significant milestones, including successful listings in Hong Kong, underscoring the economic potential of this collaborative development model.

How do you guys make money by being so generous?

— Tang HeiwaiTang Heiwai, associate dean of the University of Hong Kong’s business school, questions Alibaba's profit model for open-source AI.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by South China Morning Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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