Rednote Releases Open-Source AI Model Amid Growing Chinese Tech Push
- tech360.tv
- Jun 11, 2025
- 2 min read
Rednote, one of China’s most popular social media platforms, has released an open-source large language model, joining a growing number of Chinese tech firms making their artificial intelligence models publicly available.
The model, named dots.llm1, is now accessible for download on the developer platform Hugging Face. A technical paper detailing the model was uploaded on Friday.
Rednote, also known as Xiaohongshu, is an Instagram-like platform where users share photos, videos, text posts and live streams. The app gained international attention earlier this year when some U.S. users turned to it amid concerns over a potential TikTok ban.
The company began investing in large language model development in 2023, shortly after OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022. In recent months, Rednote has accelerated its AI efforts, including the launch of Diandian, an AI-powered search tool that helps users find content on its main platform.
According to the technical paper, dots.llm1 performs comparably to Alibaba’s Qwen 2.5 series in coding tasks, though it lags behind more advanced models such as DeepSeek-V3.
Rednote’s move reflects a broader trend among Chinese tech firms to open-source their AI models. This strategy allows companies to showcase their technological capabilities, build developer communities and expand global influence, especially as the U.S. imposes export restrictions on advanced semiconductors to curb China’s tech progress.
Other Chinese companies adopting this approach include Alibaba, which launched an upgraded version of its model, Qwen 3, in April. Earlier this year, startup DeepSeek released its low-cost R1 model as open-source software, gaining attention for its strong performance despite being developed at a fraction of the cost of Western rivals.
Rednote released its open-source AI model, dots.llm1, on Hugging Face
The model performs similarly to Alibaba’s Qwen 2.5 in coding tasks
Rednote has ramped up AI development since 2023, launching the Diandian search tool
Source: THE HINDU
