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Qwen

Qwen
Qwen is a multipurpose artificial intelligence consumer app created by Alibaba as a personal AI assistant for professional and personal use, and powered by the Alibaba Cloud software. Its functionality includes research, image generation and slide generation. Alibaba Cloud is the AI and cloud computing unit of Hangzhou-based Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post.
Qwen 3.5 has performed on par with leading systems from US heavyweights OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Global AI race heats up as Chinese tech giant releases new model

With multimodal capabilities and open weights, Qwen-3.5 signals Alibaba’s ambition to anchor the next phase of global AI deployment.

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Artificial intelligence

Humanoids go mainstream as China’s robotics champions appear at CCTV spectacle

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Artificial intelligence

Beijing warns tech giants to curb ‘involution’ amid AI giveaway war

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen tops 120 million orders in 6 days amid China’s AI shopping battle

Campaign has sparked a behavioural shift towards AI-powered shopping, which Alibaba says is becoming a more popular lifestyle choice.

The number of orders signals growing acceptance of AI-powered shopping. Photo: Getty
ByteDance

ByteDance joins Chinese rivals offering freebies in bid to acquire AI app users

TikTok parent plans to give more than 100,000 tech products as gifts, as well as red packets through lucky draws on the Doubao app.

Artificial intelligence

Sweet surge: Qwen overtakes Yuanbao after Alibaba’s bubble tea campaign

More than 10 million free orders put Alibaba’s AI app in the spotlight amid a high-stakes battle for Spring Festival attention.

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Artificial intelligence

Red packet rumble: will Tencent’s cash giveaway work again in crowded AI market?

Analysts say strong competition from ByteDance, DeepSeek, Ant Group and Alibaba may prevent Tencent’s Yuanbao from repeating WeChat glory.

Tencent’s Yuanbao has launched a campaign that gives out cash through digital red packets. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen ramps up AI app race with Spring Festival giveaway blitz

Alibaba unveils US$432 million campaign to push mass-market adoption of its AI as rivalry with Tencent, Baidu and ByteDance intensifies.

Artificial intelligence

‘Teach our children well’: Jack Ma urges changes to China’s education in AI era

China’s educators must teach students to ask thousands of good questions, rather than give the same correct answer, Ma says.

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Artificial intelligence

China’s Alibaba, Moonshot claim latest AI models challenge OpenAI, Google

Alibaba says Qwen3-Max-Thinking is its ‘best model so far’, while Moonshot calls Kimi K2.5 the world’s most powerful open-source model.

The new models mark the first major Chinese releases this year. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

China’s Baidu merges key app businesses to drive consumer AI push

Merger of Wenku and Wangpan into a new AI unit comes as tech firms race to turn their services and apps into the next ‘super app’.

Baidu’s move marks one of its largest reorganisations in the past two years. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Baidu launches Ernie 5.0 as firm’s AI assistant users reach 200 million a month

The Beijing-based company’s most advanced AI model can process text, images, audio and video.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s upgraded Qwen chatbot app receives warm consumer reception

Qwen’s upgrade transforms the chatbot into a virtual ‘life assistant’, making lives easier for hundreds of millions of consumers.

Alibaba

Alibaba’s Qwen AI app hits 100 million users as update widens role in daily life

Chinese e-commerce giant deepens integration of its fast-growing app to enable voice-powered shopping, travel and digital tasks.

Qwen’s AI app aims to help people get things done in everyday scenarios, according to Alibaba. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba reaffirms open-source AI commitment as it hails successes

‘Building with the community’ is crucial to the success of the Qwen family of large language models, company says.

Leaning into the open-source approach has helped developers build AI applications faster and at lower cost, company says. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Ant International teams up with Google on use of Universal Commerce Protocol

The endorsement of Google’s open standard comes as companies globally accelerate the integration of AI agents and e-commerce.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen family hits 700 million downloads to lead open-source AI adoption

Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen family is the world’s most widely used open-source AI system as of January, Hugging Face data shows.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Amap rolls out AI-powered 3D virtual tours for offline destinations

Flying Street View feature offers virtual tours of restaurants and venues as platform nears 1 billion monthly users.

A new feature on the Amap app allows users to take 3D virtual tours of restaurants and other offline venues. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

China takes confident strides to develop more AI innovation in 2026

‘China’s tech innovation is poised for policy-driven growth in 2026, with AI placed at the centre of the country’s economic agenda,’ NYU’s Winston Ma says.

Artificial intelligence

ByteDance, other major Chinese tech firms lead local consumer AI market: report

ByteDance-owned Doubao remains the country’s top consumer AI app, as DeepSeek’s namesake chatbot takes the No 2 spot.

Alibaba

Alibaba deepens ecosystem with Qwen-Amap tie-up for routes, restaurants and more

The integration marks Alibaba’s first full tie-in for Qwen, as the company pushes for more synergy across its sprawling consumer platforms.

Amap has become the first Alibaba ecosystem service to be fully integrated with its Qwen app. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

Tencent shakes up AI operations, names recent recruit as chief AI scientist

Vinces Yao Shunyu now serves as chief AI scientist under the CEO’s office, reporting directly to Tencent president Martin Lau.

Tencent Holdings’ latest restructuring underscored the intense competition in the country’s fast-developing AI sector. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

China’s Qwen and DeepSeek edge out US AI models in Christian values benchmark

US start-up Gloo’s Flourishing AI Christian benchmark tested how the output of AI models ‘help people flourish’, CEO Pat Gelsinger said.

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Artificial intelligence

Sea change: China narrows AI gap with US 3 years after ChatGPT shock

The turning point came when DeepSeek released its V3 and R1 models, which were on par with OpenAI’s GPT and Meta’s Llama models at the time.

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Artificial intelligence

Meta sees role reversal as it adopts Alibaba’s Qwen to train AI models

Throughout 2023 and 2024, Chinese firms keen to catch up with the US used Meta’s Llama to help them build their own models.

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The Qwen logo is seen in this illustration taken, January 29, 2025. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

AI race: Meta reportedly uses Alibaba’s Qwen for its ‘Avocado’ model

Reported move to reinvigorate Meta’s faltering AI effort with new ‘Avocado’ model is another likely win for Chinese AI.

The logo of Meta Platforms is seen outside its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Photo: TNS
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba creates new unit to push consumer use of its Qwen AI models

Significant organisational change underlines company’s determination to turn the Qwen chatbot into a ‘super app’.

Artificial intelligence

Chinese open-source models account for 30% of global AI use: report

Producing globally competitive models makes China a close peer of the US in AI development.

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