Adapted by:
Javier Lacort
Senior WriterI write long-form content at Xataka about the intersection between technology, business and society. I also host the daily Spanish podcast Loop infinito (Infinite Loop), where we analyze Apple news and put it into perspective.
Alba Mora
WriterAn established tech journalist, I entered the world of consumer tech by chance in 2018. In my writing and translating career, I've also covered a diverse range of topics, including entertainment, travel, science, and the economy.
On Tuesday, Alibaba launched Qwen 3, a new family of AI models featuring “hybrid” AI reasoning capabilities. DeepSeek made waves in the industry three months before with its R1 model. The timing is no coincidence. Both Chinese companies have adopted a starkly different strategy from that of U.S. entities.
OpenAI limits its best features to users who pay a monthly subscription of at least $20. Subscribers who pay for the $200 plan have even more benefits. Google also restricts access to advanced features for subscribers.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies release open-source models with nearly unrestricted licenses, allowing free personal or commercial use. This approach isn’t motivated by altruism. Rather, it represents a direct challenge to the Western business model, which assumes that simply having access to a high-quality model justifies a payment.
Qwen 3 is available in eight options. They range from a 600-million-parameter version that can run on a phone to a massive 235-billion-parameter model that competes with OpenAI’s o3 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro. Each version allows users to switch between fast responses and detailed step-by-step reasoning at no cost.
China wants to avoid creating walled gardens. Instead, it intends to disrupt the commercial logic that underpins major U.S. tech companies.
Every open release approaching the level of proprietary systems diminishes their perceived value. Why pay $20 a month for ChatGPT when you can use Qwen 3 for free and achieve similar performance? The pressure on companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic intensifies with each new Asian iteration.
Expert Marc Benioff encapsulated this sentiment after the DeepSeek earthquake: “It’s not the UI or the model–those are just commodities. The real value, the oxygen that gives AI life, lies in the data.” China has recognized this reality before Silicon Valley companies.
The advantages of this approach are clear:
- It partly mitigates chip constraints by enhancing efficiency.
- It mobilizes a global community that improves and deploys the technology.
- It establishes de facto standards that will drive the entire ecosystem over time.
In other words, basic models will become just another utility. The business opportunities will lie in the applications that use these models and the data that supports them. It’s no coincidence that Alibaba claims Qwen already has more than 100,000 derivatives, surpassing those based on Llama.
Silicon Valley faces a crucial choice: continuing as it has and risking becoming irrelevant or embracing the open source model, even if it means reduced revenue. Ironically, Chinese companies that advocate for open source solutions are challenging the Western free market.
xAI CEO Elon Musk is accelerating development with Grok 3.5, and OpenAI consistently demonstrates a profitable subscription model. Meanwhile, China continues to make rapid advancements, offering more power at lower costs. This trend could lead to a future where paying for AI is as unreasonable as paying for an operating system.
Image | Carlos de Souza