Experts say Chinese open-weight models still lead Western rivals

Experts at a Rest of World event in San Francisco said new open-weight models from American and European companies still trail dominant Chinese systems on performance.

They said Chinese open models lead on capability and cost, with some tasks costing 50% to 90% less than leading American frontier models.

The experts also tied China's open model strategy to global influence and to Western concerns about dependence on U.S. systems.