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Alibaba's Joseph Tsai: Only open source can drive AI adoption; Qwen open-source models exceed 470
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- DeepHorus
On November 3, the 2026 World Internet Conference opened in Wuzhen, Zhejiang. At the opening ceremony, Joseph Tsai, co-founder and chairman of Alibaba Group, said that demand for AI continues to rise, and computing power is in short supply. Regarding how AI can become widespread, he put forward the judgment that "only open source can make it widespread."
Tsai believes that open source can effectively reduce R&D costs for small and medium-sized enterprises and is especially important for developing countries. Against the backdrop of tight AI computing power and high R&D investment, the open-source path is seen as a way to lower the threshold. His remarks directly link open source with AI popularization.
Tsai disclosed that Alibaba Qwen has so far open-sourced more than 470 models, with cumulative global downloads exceeding 4 billion and more than 330,000 derivative models. These figures demonstrate the scale of the Qwen open-source ecosystem. The related models and derivative outcomes have formed a developer base of a certain scale.
According to a Bloomberg report in October this year, Tsai once said that if Europe wants to break away from dependence on China and the United States in technology, the best choice is open-source AI. He called on Europe to build its own computing infrastructure for training and running AI models. This suggestion continues his idea of using open source to promote independent AI development.
Tsai once predicted that in the future AI will shift from an explicit topic to invisible infrastructure. He said that in five years people may no longer discuss AI separately, because it will integrate into every part of business like today's internet. Related terminology may evolve with the degree of technology popularization, but AI, as a fundamental technological breakthrough, will continue to affect business and society.
Tsai also elaborated on the AI open-source path of Chinese companies represented by Alibaba. He said that just as a top university opens to the world and provides scholarships to students, AI should also open-source its advances so that more people can benefit. He believes this also stems from a philosophical choice by Chinese companies.
Judging from the number of Qwen open-source models and the scale of downloads, the open-source ecosystem is becoming an important vehicle for AI popularization. Tsai's judgments on computing power, open source, and infrastructure also provide another perspective for enterprises and developing countries. As AI further integrates into business processes, how open source and computing power construction can work in coordination will continue to attract attention.
