Open model & data licensing stories

Aug 7, 2026

Alibaba to Charge Major Commercial Users of Next Open-Source Qwen AI Model Through Revenue-Sharing

Chinese tech giant Alibaba plans to implement a revenue-sharing model for large commercial users of its upcoming Qwen open-source AI model, marking a shift toward monetizing its previously free AI offerings. The move follows similar licensing approaches by other AI companies and details are expected to be announced next week.

Aug 7, 2026·6 sources

Apr 3, 2026

Google Releases Gemma 4 Open Models Under Apache 2.0 License

Google's DeepMind released Gemma 4, a family of four open-weight AI models ranging from edge devices to workstations, marking the first time Google has used the fully open Apache 2.0 license instead of its previous restricted licensing. The models support up to 256K context windows and 140+ languages.

Apr 3, 2026·7 sources

Top claims

▪Chinese IT services provider Chinasoft International disclosed in a July 2026 regulatory filing that it had reached a revenue-sharing agreement with Moonshot AI.
▪Major US artificial intelligence models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google primarily remain closed-source, requiring users to pay for access via their data centers.
▪Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI established a precedent by requiring companies generating over $20 million annually from its Kimi K3 model to sign separate commercial agreements.