Alibaba's Qwen has open-sourced 470+ models with 4 billion downloads

The 2026 World Internet Conference opened in Wuzhen, Zhejiang, China. Alibaba co-founder and chairman Joe Tsai shared his views on AI at the opening ceremony. He said AI demand keeps rising while computing power falls short, and "only open source can make AI widespread." Open source helps small businesses cut R&D costs, especially in developing countries. Alibaba's Qwen has open-sourced over 470 models, with more than 4 billion downloads and 330,000 derivative models worldwide. Tsai also said open source AI is Europe's best choice to reduce reliance on China and the US, urging Europe to build its own computing infrastructure. He predicted that in five years, AI will become hidden infrastructure, woven into every part of business just like the internet today, and keep shaping business and society.