Friday, 7 August, 2026
End of the Free Lunch: Alibaba Pivots to Profit-Sharing for AI
By TechShots Studio
Chinese tech giant Alibaba plans to update its licensing terms to demand a share of revenue from large commercial users of its upcoming Qwen3.8-Max open-source AI model. Emulating a "freemium" strategy recently adopted by startup Moonshot AI, the move requires high-earning companies offering the model as a service to enter separate commercial agreements, signaling a shift toward monetizing Chinese open-source AI.