# AI Model Release Statistics (2026)

> BenchLM tracked 220 AI model releases in the 12 months ending 2026-09-29 — a notable model release roughly every 2 days. Updated September 29, 2026; every number regenerates from BenchLM's live dataset on each data refresh.

## Key statistics

- BenchLM tracked 220 AI model releases in the 12 months ending 2026-09-29 — a notable model release roughly every 2 days.
- 47% of the 219 classified AI model releases BenchLM tracked in the 12 months ending 2026-09-29 were open-weight models.
- August 2026 was the busiest month for AI model launches in the last year, with 42 releases tracked by BenchLM.
- OpenAI shipped the most tracked model releases in the 12 months ending 2026-09-29 (21), ahead of Alibaba (17) per BenchLM release data.

## Releases per lab, 12 months ending 2026-09-29

| Lab | Tracked releases |
|---|---|
| OpenAI | 21 |
| Alibaba | 17 |
| Google | 14 |
| Anthropic | 12 |
| xAI | 9 |
| Microsoft | 9 |
| LiquidAI | 9 |
| InclusionAI | 7 |
| Tencent | 7 |
| Meta | 6 |

## Methodology

Counts are notable model releases tracked in BenchLM's release registry (family-level launches, not every checkpoint), over the 12 months ending 2026-09-29. Open/proprietary classification joins each release to BenchLM's model catalog.

## FAQ

### How many AI models were released in the last year?

BenchLM tracked 220 notable AI model releases in the 12 months ending 2026-09-29 — roughly one every 2 days.

### What share of new AI models are open-weight?

47% of the 219 classified releases BenchLM tracked over the last 12 months were open-weight models.

### Which AI lab releases models fastest?

OpenAI shipped the most tracked releases in the last 12 months (21), ahead of Alibaba (17), per BenchLM's release registry.

## Sources

- [AI Race (release timeline)](https://benchlm.ai/ai-race)
- [Overall rankings](https://benchlm.ai/)
- [Models JSON (machine-readable)](https://benchlm.ai/data/models.json)

Cite as: BenchLM.ai, "LLM Statistics" (September 29, 2026), https://benchlm.ai/stats/model-releases

Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/stats/model-releases