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Yi (01.AI)

Last updated 2026-07-11 · Reviewed by ToolForge Editorial

01.AI's Yi model family — open-weight LLMs from Kai-Fu Lee's lab, built for enterprise and coding.

★ 4.5/5 · 3M+ users · Since 2023 · Open weights (Apache 2.0)

Free open-weight

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The enterprise-open LLM from 01.AI

Yi is the model family from 01.AI, founded by AI veteran Kai-Fu Lee. Released under permissive licenses, Yi models are tuned for long context, coding, and bilingual use — a favorite for companies that want to self-host without legal strings.

Who it's for: Engineering teams and enterprises that want open, license-friendly weights with strong coding and long-context behavior.

Key features

📜 Long context

200K-token context on larger variants.

💻 Coding focus

Solid code generation and explanation.

⚖️ Permissive license

Apache 2.0 — safe for commercial self-hosting.

🌐 Bilingual

Strong Chinese + English.

The honest take

✓ What works

Truly open, commercial-friendly license
Great long-context handling
Self-hostable

✗ What doesn't

Smaller than GLM/Qwen in China
English creative writing average
Less frequent releases lately

Verdict

For a license-clean, self-hostable LLM with long context, Yi is a strong, underrated pick. Choose Qwen or GLM if you want the biggest open ecosystem.

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