Beijing-based Chinese startup Moonshot AI, backed by Alibaba, launched its Kimi K3 model on July 16, the first open-source model to break the 3-trillion-parameter barrier with its 2.8 trillion parameters. The full model weights will be freely downloadable by everyone starting July 27 under a Modified MIT license. Demand was so overwhelming that Moonshot AI had to suspend new subscriptions just days after launch. This release comes amid escalating US-China tensions over artificial intelligence capabilities, as American administrations have imposed export controls on advanced chips destined for China. If Kimi K3 genuinely achieves performance parity with top proprietary models from OpenAI and Anthropic while being free, it could undermine the revenue model of companies charging premium prices for API access.
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