US Federal Register briefly used Alibaba's Qwen AI search tool

A US government-run website, the Federal Register, briefly featured a search tool powered by Alibaba's Qwen AI model to help users look up proposed federal regulations and public comments. The tool appeared alongside other search options, though it is unclear when it was deployed.

According to screenshots and archived versions of the site's source code reviewed by Reuters, the Qwen-powered search tool was taken down on Wednesday, around the same time posts about it began appearing on social media. Neither the US National Archives nor the White House responded to requests for comment.

AI experts say using the Chinese tool on the Federal Register site likely did not pose a national security risk. Qwen is an open-weight model, meaning key components are publicly available. Developers can download and modify it for specific uses, and it typically costs less than closed-source models from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI.