Chinese AI powers half of Korea's new models: study

What happened: A Rockbridge Network Korea study found that 49.3 percent of AI model derivatives published by Korea-linked accounts on Hugging Face from January to August were based on Chinese foundation models, led by Alibaba's Qwen. Key numbers: 1,845 derivatives total; China 49.3 percent, US 35.9 percent, Korea 14.9 percent; Why it matters: The findings raise questions about Korea's government-backed sovereign AI program, and Naver Cloud was eliminated after using Qwen components. The report warns that heavy reliance on a single model leaves developers vulnerable to licensing changes.

A Rockbridge Network Korea study found that 49.3 percent of AI model derivatives published by Korea-linked accounts on Hugging Face from January to August were based on Chinese foundation models, led by Alibaba's Qwen.

The findings raise questions about Korea's government-backed sovereign AI program, and Naver Cloud was eliminated after using Qwen components. The report warns that heavy reliance on a single model leaves developers vulnerable to licensing changes.