State of Open Models: Summer 2026 Observations

The open-source AI landscape in 2026 shows a rapid advance, with Chinese labs consistently releasing larger models than their American counterparts. In the U.S., the focus of open-source contributions has shifted from traditional model labs to hardware companies like NVIDIA and AMD, who use open models to promote their chips. A clear distinction has emerged between models that receive attention and those that are widely adopted, as older, smaller models still dominate download counts. Alibaba's Qwen has become a foundational model for the community, while small models remain the most practical choice for developers.