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Applied AI·July 20, 2026·1 min read

Chinese open models are proper competition that should be welcomed, not something to ban or treat as a danger, and open-sourcing is an old business strategy

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If Chinese open models are both cheaper and good enough, the real moat for Western labs shifts from raw capability to distribution, data, and policy leverage. Operators should assume a world where high-quality open weights — including from China — are table stakes and build differentiation above the model, not around access.