Alibaba to charge heavy commercial users on next open source AI models

Alibaba is planning to implement a revenue-sharing model for major commercial users of its upcoming open-source/open-weight AI models such as the next-generation Qwen3.8-Max.

The move will marks a notable strategic shift in how Chinese tech giants monetize frontier artificial intelligence.

It would allow Alibaba to continue providing access to its AI models while generating revenue from companies and developers that require large-scale computing resources or higher levels of usage.

While smaller developers and researchers will still be able to download and use the model weights for free, enterprises generating high revenues from commercial deployments will be asked to enter separate commercial agreements and share a portion of their earnings.

As reported, the strategy follows a similar commercial licensing structure introduced by the Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI for its Kimi K3 model, which targets large "Model-as-a-Service" providers above specific revenue thresholds.

Alibaba has been expanding its presence in the global AI race through its Qwen family of open-source models, which have gained attention among developers for their performance and accessibility.

The Chinese tech company has released multiple versions of the models that can be customized and deployed by businesses.

After years of aggressive price competition and heavy investment in large-scale AI systems such as Qwen’s multi-trillion-parameter models, major AI firms are turning toward sustainable monetization strategies, including charging high-volume enterprise users to help offset infrastructure costs.

Alibaba has not publicly confirmed the reported pricing plans. The company remains one of China's leading AI players, competing with domestic rivals and global technology firms in the rapidly growing generative AI market.