Alibaba plans to charge big users of its next open-source AI model

Alibaba, a Chinese technology giant, intends to charge major users of its forthcoming open-source AI model, Qwen3.8-Max, for a portion of the revenue generated, according to two sources familiar with the company's plans. The Qwen3.8-Max model, like Moonshot's recent blockbuster, is open-source, meaning its underlying settings are available for developers to download and adapt.

However, unlike U.S. tech giants OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, open-source models are not free. Moonshot's Kimi K3 license includes a provision that obliges anyone selling the model as a service and generating over $20 million in annual sales to negotiate a commercial agreement with Moonshot. Alibaba plans to introduce a similar revenue-sharing mechanism for its open-source model next week, a strategy not previously reported.

The sources requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of their knowledge. Currently, Alibaba charges developers for using its models only when hosted on its cloud computing platform, allowing most open-source offerings to be used in customers' data centers without payment. This move indicates that Chinese AI firms, which have released open-source models nearly as powerful as those from OpenAI and Anthropic, are adopting a similar business model to capture market share from their U.S. counterparts.

Revenue-sharing deals between U.S. firms and Chinese AI labs are emerging, even as the White House accuses Moonshot of technology theft from Anthropic. Moonshot requires up to a 30% revenue share from its partners, according to sources, but the exact rate for Alibaba's model remains undetermined as negotiations are ongoing.