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In recent days, two prominent coding tools developed by American firms have ignited suspicions regarding their reliance on Chinese foundational models.
This revelation has raised profound ethical questions about the commercialization of open-source technologies without due acknowledgment of their original creators.
At the heart of this affair is Cognition AI’s newly unveiled SWE-1.5 model, which boasts “near state-of-the-art” coding capabilities alongside an unprecedented generation speed.
Cognition AI’s SWE-1.5 Leverages Open-Source Framework
Cognition AI, a thriving San Francisco-based enterprise valued at $10.2 billion, disclosed in a recent blog entry that SWE-1.5 was constructed “on top of a leading open-source base model.”
However, the company refrained from specifying which model it referred to, prompting conjectures that it may have drawn upon Zhipu AI’s GLM series of foundational models from Beijing.
The latter has purportedly contended that SWE-1.5 utilized its flagship GLM-4.6 as the core framework.
Cursor Introduces Composer with Comparable Features
In an adjacent development, Cursor, another formidable player in the coding landscape, recently celebrated a valuation surge to $9.9 billion within a mere six months.
The company launched a new tool named Composer that exhibits capabilities akin to SWE-1.5. Yet, users swiftly discerned that the model produced reasoning outputs in Chinese, fuelling speculation regarding its underlying model’s origins.
Controversy Surrounding the Origin of Base Models
The intricacies of this controversy are exacerbated by the permissive open-source licenses prevalent among Chinese models. Such licenses facilitate the commercialization of these models without the necessity of attribution.
Florian Brand, a PhD candidate at Trier University in Germany and an authority on open models, stressed that “the fine-tuning is the ‘sauce'” in this landscape.
GLM-4.6 Distributed Under MIT Open-Source License
Zhipu AI, which launched the GLM-4.6 model under an MIT open-source license, permits unrestricted distribution and modification for commercial endeavors. Remarkably, the company has witnessed a tenfold increase in its paid international user base over just the last two months.
They have also introduced a coding subscription plan targeting the burgeoning global AI coding market. In response to criticisms leveled at Cognition AI, Zhipu articulated that it views this trend positively, emphasizing “the beneficial impact and value of open-source contributions to the ecosystem.”
Source link: Newsbytesapp.com.
