Chinese AI models are gaining significant traction among major US tech companies like Pinterest and Airbnb, leading to speculation that China is quietly winning the AI race through open-source innovations that are proving to be more effective and cost-efficient.

• Pinterest is experimenting with Chinese AI models, including DeepSeek R-1, to enhance its recommendation engine.
• Pinterest CEO Bill Ready called the launch of DeepSeek R-1 in January 2025 a breakthrough, emphasizing its open-source nature.
• Pinterest CTO Matt Madrigal stated that open-source techniques from Chinese models are 30% more accurate and can be 90% cheaper than proprietary US models.
• Chinese models, such as Alibaba’s Qwen and Moonshot’s Kimi, frequently occupy top spots for downloads on platforms like Hugging Face.
• A report from Stanford University found Chinese AI models have "caught up or even pulled ahead" of global counterparts.