The Journal. · Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Chinese AI companies are making their models 'open-weight,' meaning their parameters are public and adaptable, similar to open-source technology. This approach contrasts with proprietary models from OpenAI and Anthropic, offering businesses greater control, customization, and cost savings, leading some US companies like Airbnb and Coinbase to adopt them.
“The other thing is that most of their models are what's known as open weight. Open weight means that the parameters that make up the AI model are public and can be shared and adapted.”
“Open weight AI models give the companies that use them a lot more control. And it really spurs a lot of adoption among businesses because they want to take these AI tools, put them into their own products, use their own proprietary data, and that's much easier to do with open weight products than closed products like those offered by Anthropic and OpenAI.”
“Some of the most popular models from US companies, like the ones that power ChatGPT or Claude, are not open weight. Customers can't see or control the underlying code.”
“For all these reasons, some American businesses, like Airbnb and Coinbase, have already ditched US AI models for their Chinese competitors.”