Chinese tech industry leaders, such as Alibaba, are increasingly adopting open-source AI models. This strategy is being presented as a way to lower costs and facilitate global technological development.

In China’s hyper-competitive and lucrative tech industry, releasing cutting-edge artificial intelligence models for free may seem counter-intuitive – but it has become a core business strategy. At the University of Hong Kong last November, Alibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai was asked why the tech giant open-sourced its AI models. Addressing a room full of students, Tsai said he believed open-source AI would bring global benefits by lowering costs, making it a natural fit for talent- and...