AI competition ramps up
Alibaba's first models actually predate DeepSeek. But competition in China is ramping up. Some of the country's biggest tech firms from Baidu to Tencent continue to release models.
But there are questions about how Alibaba will make money off open-source AI models that are free. The answer, according to investors, AI experts and the company executives, is Alibaba's cloud computing business.
Open source allows a company to build a community of developers around a particular model, strengthening its capabilities and also its reach globally.