Every month, hundreds of millions of users visit Pinterest to explore new styles and creative ideas. One popular page called “the most ridiculous things” offers unusual inspiration. It shows Crocs repurposed as flower pots. It features cheeseburger-shaped eyeshadow. It even presents a gingerbread house built from vegetables.
Many users do not realise the technology behind these recommendations is not always American. Pinterest now experiments with Chinese artificial intelligence models to refine its recommendation engine. The platform increasingly relies on this technology to personalise shopping and discovery.
Pinterest chief executive Bill Ready said the platform now operates like an AI-powered shopping assistant. The San Francisco-based company could partner with many American AI labs. Instead, it increasingly integrates Chinese-developed models behind the scenes.
DeepSeek sets a new benchmark
China’s influence at Pinterest grew after the release of DeepSeek R-1 in January 2025. Ready described the launch as a breakthrough for the industry. He said the developers released the model as open source. That decision sparked a wave of innovation across the tech sector.
The release encouraged rapid experimentation across the industry. Other Chinese companies quickly followed the same approach. Alibaba released its Qwen models. Moonshot introduced its Kimi system. ByteDance also develops similar large language technology.
These models now compete directly with established American systems. They increasingly power products used by millions of people worldwide.
Open source as a strategic advantage
Pinterest Chief Technology Officer Matt Madrigal said open-source access makes these models especially attractive. Companies can download and customise them internally. Many American rivals restrict access to their most advanced systems.
Madrigal said Pinterest trains its own models using open-source techniques. He said these internal systems outperform many off-the-shelf alternatives. Accuracy improves by roughly 30 percent, he added.
Costs also drop sharply. Madrigal said expenses sometimes fall by as much as ninety percent. Proprietary models from US developers often require far higher spending.
Chinese AI spreads across US companies
Pinterest is not alone in adopting Chinese AI technology. Many large American firms now depend on these models. Their adoption continues to expand across corporate America.
Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky said his company relies heavily on Alibaba’s Qwen. The model powers Airbnb’s AI customer service agent. Chesky explained the choice simply: it works very well, runs fast, and costs less.
Further evidence appears on Hugging Face, a major platform for downloading AI models. Developers there access systems from companies like Meta and Alibaba. The platform tracks which models gain the most attention.
Chinese models dominate downloads
Jeff Boudier, who builds products at Hugging Face, said cost drives many decisions. Young start-ups often choose Chinese models over American ones. Download data clearly reflects that trend.
Boudier said Chinese models frequently occupy top positions in popularity rankings. In some weeks, four of the five leading training models come from Chinese labs. That pattern appears repeatedly.
In September, Alibaba’s Qwen overtook Meta’s Llama. It became the most downloaded family of large language models on the platform. Developers quickly adjusted to the change.
Silicon Valley recalibrates
Meta released its open-source Llama models in 2023. Developers long considered them the default choice for custom applications. That position weakened after DeepSeek and Alibaba entered the market.
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 once, including American systems. The company hosts them within its own infrastructure. It says it never shares user data with model developers.
The global balance begins to shift
At the start of 2025, many analysts believed Chinese firms were close to pulling ahead. Heavy American investment no longer guaranteed leadership. The conversation has since evolved.
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 already moved ahead.
Competing strategies shape the race
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 building AI beyond 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.
Commercial pressure grows in the US
The Stanford report also highlighted strong government support inside China. That backing may explain part of its success in open-source development.
Meanwhile, American AI companies face increasing pressure to generate revenue. Firms like OpenAI must balance research goals with profitability. Some now turn to advertising to support growth.
OpenAI released two open-source models last summer, its first such release in years. Most resources still flow into proprietary systems designed to generate income.
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.
