Alibaba makes AI model for video, image generation publicly available

Chinese ecommerce leader Alibaba said on Wednesday its video- and image-generating artificial intelligence model Wan 2.1 is now publicly available – or open source – in a move likely to increase its uptake and intensify competition in AI.

Alibaba’s announcement follows similar action from startup DeepSeek whose ostensibly low-cost open-source models earlier this year generated excitement among technology investors and surprise in the capital-intensive sector with performance akin to those of more established rivals such as OpenAI.

Alibaba said it has…