曾被誉为"AI教父"的李开复创办的零一万物，正经历战略转向。该公司在2025年1月成为首家宣布放弃训练超级大模型的模型公司[1]，标志着这家初创企业在大模型竞争中的策略调整。李开复随后表示，"大模型已经不适合创业公司，只有大公司能继续做"[1]。
零一万物曾在2023年11月发布首款开源大模型Yi，完成融资后估值超过10亿美元[1]。然而，DeepSeek等公司的崛起改变了行业格局。DeepSeek发布推理模型R1后引发市场震动，英伟达股价暴跌约17%，单日市值蒸发约6000亿美元[1]。在此背景下，零一万物调整了发展路线，转向To B业务模式。公司2025年实现5亿元订单、2.5亿元审计收入，2026年前五个月订单突破15亿元，并计划2027年实现季度盈利并在港交所上市[1]。
与此同时，公司面临人才流失。两年间零一万物流失至少8位核心高管，包括4位联合创始人[1]。64岁的李开复曾于1988年获美国《商业周刊》科学创新奖[1]，但其在业界的话语权已随行业竞争格局的变化而削弱。
Li Kaifu, once hailed as the "godfather of AI," saw his startup Zero One Everything become the first model company to publicly renounce training superlarge language models in January 2025 [1]. The decision marked a stark reversal from the company's earlier ambitions, when it had completed funding at a valuation exceeding $1 billion and released its flagship open-source model Yi in November 2023 [1]. Li Kaifu attributed the pivot to changing market realities, stating that "large models are no longer suitable for startups—only major corporations can continue developing them" [1].
The company's strategic retreat reflects shifting competitive dynamics in China's AI landscape. Zero One Everything secured 500 million yuan in orders and 250 million yuan in audited revenue in 2025, with orders surpassing 1.5 billion yuan in the first five months of 2026, as the firm transitioned toward business-to-business solutions rather than competing in the foundational model race [1]. Meanwhile, the emergence of competitors like DeepSeek, which released its reasoning model R1, underscored the consolidation in the sector—DeepSeek's announcement sent Nvidia's stock price plummeting approximately 17 percent and erased roughly $600 billion in market value in a single trading day [1].
The company's leadership experienced significant attrition, with at least eight core executives departing over two years, including four co-founders, while most of the remaining team merged into Alibaba [1]. Despite these challenges, Zero One Everything maintains plans to achieve quarterly profitability by 2027 and pursue a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange [1]. At 64 years old, Li Kaifu—who won the American Business Week Scientific Innovation Award in 1988—now relies heavily on personal relationships and his historical reputation to drive enterprise sales [1].
