They probably have tried, but you have to have more cash than those researchers feel they can get starting their own lab. When you consider the fact that their new startup lab would have the entire nation of China as, in effect, a captive market; you start to see how almost any amount of money would be too little to convince them not to make a run at that new startup. If money is their aim.

I think Alibaba needs to just give these guys a blank check. Let them fill it in themselves. Absent that, I'm pretty sure they'll make their own startup.

I do think it'd be a big loss for the rest of the world though if they close whatever model their startup comes up with.

> I do think it'd be a big loss for the rest of the world though if they close whatever model their startup comes up with.

That's very likely to happen once the gap with OpenAI/Anthropic has been closed and they managed to pop the bubble.