When US tech giant Meta Platforms released its flagship Llama family of artificial intelligence models in February 2023, they were open-sourced, a move that singled it out among global AI model developers at the time.

That September, one of the many derivatives of Llama was announced: Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen. The first generation of Qwen adopted Llama’s training process and cited Meta’s seminal research findings in its accompanying technical report.

Out of deference, the Chinese researchers even called Llama “the top open-source large language model”.

Two years later, the tables have seemingly turned. According to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday, it was now Meta that is reportedly taking its cues from Alibaba, with unnamed sources claiming that the Facebook owner was now using Qwen to help train a new model code-named Avocado.

The report did not specify which Alibaba Qwen model was being used. Alibaba owns the Post.

The development caps a remarkable reversal in fortunes for the two leading US and Chinese open-source flagbearers. Up until very recently, Llama was the default model of choice for developers building on open-source AI software, including in China.