21 August 2026
Alibaba's Qwen model becomes most downloaded open-weight model
First reported
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- Alibaba's Qwen model family reached 3 billion downloads in six months, making it the most downloaded open-weight model available.
- Qwen surpassed models from Alphabet and Meta, despite those American companies being earlier and more prominent in open-weight AI development.
- Open-weight models are freely available AI systems anyone can download and run on their own computers, contrasting with closed services like ChatGPT.
How it was covered
SuperhumanZain Kahn
Alibaba's Qwen model family exceeded 3 billion downloads over six months, surpassing Alphabet and Meta as the most popular open-weight AI model despite these companies leading the open-weight push in America.