Every month, hundreds of millions of users visit Pinterest in search of new styles and ideas. One page called “the most ridiculous things” delivers unusual inspiration for creatives. It shows Crocs repurposed as flower pots. It features cheeseburger-shaped eyeshadow. It even includes a gingerbread house made entirely of vegetables.
Most users do not realise the technology behind these suggestions is not always American. Pinterest now experiments with Chinese artificial intelligence models to improve its recommendation engine. The platform increasingly relies on this technology to personalise shopping and discovery.
Pinterest chief executive Bill Ready said the company has turned the platform into an AI-powered shopping assistant. The San Francisco-based firm could use many American AI labs. Instead, it now integrates Chinese models behind the scenes.
The DeepSeek moment
China’s growing role at Pinterest began after the release of DeepSeek R-1 in January 2025. Ready described this moment as a major breakthrough. He said the developers released the model as open source. That decision triggered a surge of open-source innovation.
The release encouraged rapid adoption across the industry. Other Chinese companies soon followed the same path. Alibaba developed its Qwen models. Moonshot introduced its Kimi system. ByteDance also works on similar large language technology.
These models now compete directly with established American systems. They increasingly appear inside products used by millions of people worldwide.
Why open source matters
Pinterest Chief Technology Officer Matt Madrigal said open-source access makes these models especially attractive. Companies can download and customise them freely. Most American rivals restrict access to their most advanced models.
Madrigal said Pinterest trains its own systems using open-source techniques. He said these internal models outperform many off-the-shelf alternatives. According to him, accuracy improves by around 30 percent.
Costs also fall sharply. Madrigal said expenses sometimes drop by as much as ninety percent. Proprietary models from US developers often cost far more.
Fast, cheap, and widely adopted
Pinterest is far from alone in using Chinese AI. Many large American companies now depend on these models. Their use continues to spread across major corporations.
Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky said his company relies heavily on Alibaba’s Qwen. The model powers Airbnb’s AI customer service agent. Chesky gave three reasons for the choice. He said it is very good. He said it is fast. He said it is cheap.
Further evidence appears on Hugging Face, a major platform for downloading AI models. Developers there access tools from companies like Meta and Alibaba. The platform tracks popularity and usage trends.
Jeff Boudier, who builds products at Hugging Face, said cost influences many decisions. Young start-ups often choose Chinese models over American ones. Download data supports that shift.
Chinese models dominate rankings
Boudier said Chinese models frequently appear among the most popular downloads. In some weeks, four of the five leading training models come from Chinese labs. That pattern has repeated itself throughout the year.
In September, Alibaba’s Qwen overtook Meta’s Llama. It became the most downloaded family of large language models on the platform. Developers responded quickly to the change.
Meta released its open-source Llama models in 2023. Developers long considered them the default choice for custom applications. That status weakened after DeepSeek and Alibaba entered the market.
Disappointment and recalibration
Meta released Llama 4 last year. Many developers described the update as underwhelming. Reports suggest Meta now uses open-source models from Alibaba, Google, and OpenAI to train a new system. The company plans to release it this spring.
Airbnb uses several AI models at the same time. That includes systems developed in the United States. The company hosts all models within its own infrastructure. It says it never shares user data with model developers.
China’s growing edge
At the start of 2025, many analysts believed Chinese firms threatened to pull ahead. Massive American investment no longer guaranteed leadership. The debate has since shifted.
Boudier said the strongest models now come from open-source communities. A recent Stanford University report supports that view. Researchers found Chinese models have matched or surpassed global competitors.
The study measured technical capability and user adoption. It suggested Chinese developers have closed the gap. In some areas, they have moved ahead.
A strategic opening
In a recent interview with a British broadcaster, former UK deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg criticised American priorities. He said US firms focus too heavily on creating AI that exceeds human intelligence.
Clegg previously led global affairs at Meta. Mark Zuckerberg has committed billions to achieving what he calls superintelligence. Some experts now describe those ambitions as vague.
Clegg said this lack of clarity gives China an opening. He argued China now does more to democratise the technology it competes over.
Pressure on US developers
The Stanford report also pointed to strong government support inside China. That backing may explain part of its success in open-source development.
Meanwhile, American firms face intense pressure to generate revenue. Companies like OpenAI must balance research with profitability. Some now turn to advertising to support their growth.
OpenAI released two open-source models last summer. It marked the company’s first such release in years. Most resources still flow into proprietary systems designed to make money.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the company invests aggressively in computing power. He said revenue will grow quickly. He also said spending on future models will remain heavy.
