# Startups realign Chinese open-weight AI models to Western safety and values standards

> Original title: Startups recalibrate Chinese AI for the West

- Source: Rest of World
- Published: 2026-11-02T11:00:00.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/wmh58yab2jyh86ugm98p1a82y
- Original: https://restofworld.org/2026/western-startups-realigning-chinese-ai-models/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feeds

## Summary

Hirundo co-founder Ben Luria says his startup edits the weights of Chinese open-weight models to remove state-aligned bias, censorship, and dangerous knowledge before Western companies deploy them. Lazarus AI says it removed mandatory censorship from Alibaba's Qwen models and deployed its ReAligned models at about a dozen U.S. companies. AI researcher Oriane Peter says a universal Western-aligned safety standard is an impossible one to meet.