Exclusive: Why are Chinese AI models dominating open-source as Western labs step back?

As Western AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google increasingly restrict access to their most powerful models due to regulatory and commercial pressures, Chinese developers have surged ahead by releasing open-source AI models optimized to run efficiently on commodity hardware. A security study by SentinelOne and Censys, analyzing 175,000 exposed AI hosts globally, highlights Alibabas Qwen2 model as the second most deployed after Metas Llama, appearing on 52% of multi-model systems and establishing itself as the dominant open-source alternative.