On Wednesday, Alibaba announced that it is making its video generation artificial intelligence models available for free, intensifying competition with rivals such as OpenAI. The Chinese tech giant revealed that it is open sourcing four models from its Wan2. 1 series, which represents the latest iteration of its foundational AI model capable of generating images and videos based on text and image inputs. These models will be accessible through Alibaba Cloud's Model Scope and Hugging Face, a prominent hub for AI models. This initiative will benefit academics, researchers, and commercial institutions worldwide. Following the announcement, Alibaba's shares listed in Hong Kong rose nearly 5%. The significance of open-source AI technology has surged into public attention since the Chinese company DeepSeek impacted global markets in January, claiming its AI model was trained at a fraction of the costs incurred by leading AI companies and utilized less advanced Nvidia chips. Similar to DeepSeek's offering, Alibaba's model is also open source, allowing others to download and modify it. Open-source models differ from proprietary ones, such as those produced by OpenAI, which do not directly generate revenue for companies. Open sourcing technology has several benefits, including fostering innovation and cultivating a community around a product. There is ongoing debate about whether AI models will be commoditized in the future. Chinese companies, particularly, have accelerated the development of open source models, with Alibaba's and DeepSeek's offerings becoming some of the most utilized globally.

Alibaba released its first open-source model in August 2023, and Meta is at the forefront of open source efforts in the U. S. with its Llama models. Alibaba's stock has seen remarkable growth this year, with its Hong Kong listing gaining 66% in 2025 so far, driven by the company's improved financial performance, its standing as a prominent AI player in China, and recent indications of increased support for the domestic private sector from Chinese President Xi Jinping.