Moonshot AI releases Kimi K3 model for free download

Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI released its massive Kimi K3 model for free public download on Monday, July 27, 2026, marking a significant step in the global AI landscape and intensifying the technological competition between the United States and China. The Beijing-based company made the model's complete set of weights available under a Modified MIT license, allowing developers worldwide to download, modify, and run the system locally without cost.

The release makes Kimi K3, boasting 2.8 trillion parameters, the world's largest openly available AI model by that metric. Company founder Yang Zhilin has emphasized a strategy of prioritizing openness over proprietary systems. The model is designed for demanding tasks like long-horizon coding, advanced knowledge work, and complex reasoning, featuring a one-million-token context window that enables it to process vast amounts of text in a single prompt.

Initial market response to K3's debut earlier this month was overwhelming. Daily sales for Moonshot reportedly surged at least sixfold, forcing the company to temporarily pause new subscriptions due to capacity constraints. The model's performance has been...