Alibaba previews new AI reasoning model to challenge DeepSeek R1, OpenAI o1

The introduction of QwQ-Max-Preview comes as Alibaba pledges to invest US$53 billion on cloud and AI infrastructure in the next three years

Ben Jiangin Beijing
Alibaba has released a preview of its next AI reasoning model. Photo: AFP
Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding on Tuesday unveiled a preview of its next reasoning model QwQ-Max, which could rival industry-leading competitors including OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1, heating up the global artificial intelligence (AI) race.
The Qwen team said that QwQ-Max-Preview – built on the most advanced model of the series, the Qwen 2.5-Max introduced last month – displayed stronger and more versatile reasoning and problem-solving skills. The preview model has been made available for free on the Qwen chatbot website.
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