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Role reversal: Meta adopts Qwen as Chinese AI becomes industry foundation

Throughout 2023 and 2024, Chinese firms keen to catch up with the US used Meta’s Llama to help them build their own models

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The Qwen logo is seen in this illustration taken, January 29, 2025. Photo: Reuters
Vincent Chow

When US tech giant Meta Platforms released its flagship Llama family of artificial intelligence models in February 2023, they were open-sourced, a move that singled it out among global AI model developers at the time.

That September, one of the many derivatives of Llama was announced: Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen. The first generation of Qwen adopted Llama’s training process and cited Meta's seminal research findings in its accompanying technical report.

Out of deference, the Chinese researchers even called Llama “the top open-source large language model”.

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Two years later, the tables have seemingly turned. According to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday, it was now Meta that is reportedly taking its cues from Alibaba, with unnamed sources claiming that the Facebook owner was now using Qwen to help train a new model code-named Avocado.

The report did not specify which Alibaba Qwen model was being used. Alibaba owns the Post.

Meta released its flagship Llama family of AI models in February 2023. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Meta released its flagship Llama family of AI models in February 2023. Photo: Shutterstock Images

The development caps a remarkable reversal in fortunes for the two leading US and Chinese open-source flagbearers. Up until very recently, Llama was the default model of choice for developers building on open-source AI software, including in China.

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