Two US AI coding tools, Cognition AI’s SWE-1.5 and Cursor’s Composer, are under scrutiny for allegedly using Chinese models as their base. This controversy raises ethical concerns about commercializing open-source models without crediting original creators. Cognition AI, valued at $10.2 billion, claims SWE-1.5 is built on a prominent open-source base model, yet has not disclosed specifics, leading to speculation about its ties to Beijing-based Zhipu AI’s GLM-4.6 model. Cursor, tripling its valuation to $9.9 billion, introduced Composer, which also shows Chinese reasoning traces, suggesting potential similarities in base models. The permissive licenses of Chinese models permit commercial use without attribution, complicating the situation. Zhipu AI, whose GLM-4.6 is offered under an MIT license, recently saw a surge in overseas users and introduced a subscription plan for coding. The fallout underscores the importance of ethical practices in AI development and the growing influence of open-source contributions.
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