Why Chinese AI Models Are Mostly Open Source

Melvin Vivas · X post · 2026-07-20 · Open on X

Topics: Industry Trends & Job Market · Level: beginner

Summary

Melvin Vivas connects the open release of many Chinese models (GLM, Kimi, Qwen, DeepSeek) to China's stated policy of international AI cooperation. He quotes Xi Jinping and links a CNA news video on China positioning itself as a leader of a new global AI order.

Key points

• Major Chinese model families GLM, Kimi, Qwen and DeepSeek are mostly released as open source or open weights.
• Xi Jinping: AI development should be 'a symphony of international cooperation', not a solo performance by one country.
• China presents open AI cooperation as a challenge to US dominance.

Resources mentioned

• President Xi pitches China as leader of new global AI order, challenging US dominance (CNA) · video · youtube.com · free
  CNA news video on China's pitch to lead global AI governance and cooperation.
• GLM · tool · github.com · free
  Chinese open-weight LLM family from Zhipu AI.
  Also in: OpenCode Go: Open Coding Models (DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM) for $10/mo (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Orchestrator + Subagents in opencode with Open Models (Melvin Vivas on X · notes)
• Kimi · tool · github.com · free
  Open-weight large language models from Moonshot AI, aimed at agent and coding tasks.
  Also in: Bolt.new Adds Open Models (GLM, DeepSeek, Kimi) via Bolt Forge (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), OpenCode Go: Open Coding Models (DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM) for $10/mo (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Orchestrator + Subagents in opencode with Open Models (Melvin Vivas on X · notes)
• Qwen · tool · qwen.ai · free
  Alibaba's family of open-weight LLMs.
  Also in: OpenCode Go: Open Coding Models (DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM) for $10/mo (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Orchestrator + Subagents in opencode with Open Models (Melvin Vivas on X · notes)
• DeepSeek · tool · deepseek.com · free
  Open-weight large language models from DeepSeek, known for strong reasoning and coding at low cost.
  Also in: Open models now dominate token volume on Vercel AI Gateway (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), jina-ocr-v1: Turning PDFs, Scans and Tables into Markdown (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Bolt.new Adds Open Models (GLM, DeepSeek, Kimi) via Bolt Forge (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), OpenCode Go: Open Coding Models (DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM) for $10/mo (Melvin Vivas on X · notes) and 4 more