Every month, hundreds of millions of users visit Pinterest to search for new styles and visual ideas. One popular page called “the most ridiculous things” offers strange inspiration for creatives. It shows Crocs reused as flower pots. It features cheeseburger-shaped eyeshadow. It even displays a gingerbread house made from vegetables.
Many users do not realise the technology behind these suggestions is not always American. Pinterest now experiments with Chinese artificial intelligence models to sharpen 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 choose from many American AI labs. Instead, it increasingly integrates Chinese-developed models behind the scenes.
The moment that changed direction
China’s growing role at Pinterest followed 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 choice sparked a wave of global experimentation.
The decision encouraged fast adoption across the tech sector. Other Chinese firms soon followed the same approach. Alibaba released its Qwen models. Moonshot introduced its Kimi system. ByteDance also develops comparable large language technology.
These models now compete directly with established American systems. They increasingly power digital products used by millions of people worldwide.
Open source delivers an edge
Pinterest Chief Technology Officer Matt Madrigal said open-source access makes these models especially appealing. Companies can download and customise them freely. 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 ready-made alternatives. According to him, accuracy improves by roughly 30 percent.
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.
Fast adoption across big business
Pinterest is not alone in adopting Chinese AI technology. Many major American companies now depend on these models. Their use 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 decision in simple terms. He said it is very good. He said it is fast. He said it is cheap.
More 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 climb the charts
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 reflects that trend.
Boudier said Chinese models frequently dominate popularity rankings. In some weeks, four of the five leading training models come from Chinese labs. That pattern repeats regularly.
In September, Alibaba’s Qwen overtook Meta’s Llama. It became the most downloaded family of large language models on the platform. Developers adjusted quickly to the shift.
Pressure inside Silicon Valley
Meta released its open-source Llama models in 2023. Developers long treated them as the default choice for custom applications. That position weakened after DeepSeek and Alibaba entered the market.
Last year, Meta released Llama 4. Many developers described the update as disappointing. 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.
A shifting global balance
At the start of 2025, many analysts believed Chinese firms threatened to pull ahead. Heavy American investment no longer guaranteed leadership. The discussion has since changed.
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 visions for the future
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 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.
Financial pressure on US firms
The Stanford report also pointed to strong government backing inside China. That support may explain part of its success in open-source development.
Meanwhile, American AI companies face intense pressure to generate revenue. Firms like OpenAI must balance research with profitability. Some now turn to advertising to support growth.
OpenAI released two open-source models last summer, its first such move 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.
