The openness paradox: Open-source AI and China's quest for cyber sovereignty

China's embrace of open-source AI appears to contradict its centralized “cyber sovereignty” doctrine. This article analyses China's open-source AI strategy through a four-layer framework (physical, logical, application, societal), revealing how openness is repurposed to serve state-centric goals: achieving technological self-reliance, controlling applications and data, and steering innovation toward state-defined priorities. Globally, the strategy functions as asymmetric competition, countering U.S. tech dominance through the narrative of “AI democratization,” while shaping industry standards and subtly promoting China's vision of digital governance across the world.