Alibaba will add a revenue-sharing clause to open-source Qwen models. In plain terms: if you use my model to make big money, then you have to give me a share.
My first reaction was: open-source circles are finally starting to settle accounts. Before, so many people were taking Llama, tweaking it, and using it—without providing code and without paying. I’m amazed Meta has been able to tolerate it for so long. Open source has never been about doing charity; it’s about locking in market niches. Now it’s just putting the implicit bills out in the open.
The only question is how they’ll carry it out afterward—through voluntary self-reporting or code scanning? It feels like the room for arguing in the middle is bigger than with smart contracts 😅
My first reaction was: open-source circles are finally starting to settle accounts. Before, so many people were taking Llama, tweaking it, and using it—without providing code and without paying. I’m amazed Meta has been able to tolerate it for so long. Open source has never been about doing charity; it’s about locking in market niches. Now it’s just putting the implicit bills out in the open.
The only question is how they’ll carry it out afterward—through voluntary self-reporting or code scanning? It feels like the room for arguing in the middle is bigger than with smart contracts 😅