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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.
Alibaba stands at a critical inflection point in the development of artificial general intelligence, according to a letter to shareholders. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba signals next phase of AI growth from investment to commercialisation

Chinese e-commerce and cloud computing giant forecasts 30 billion yuan AI revenue in 2026, with agents driving more than half of cloud sales.

Alibaba

Alibaba teases new Qwen previews, highest-ranking Chinese AI models on Arena

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba brings chat-style shopping to Taobao, Qwen amid AI gateway push: source

Artificial intelligence

ByteDance needs to monetise its AI chatbot. But will Chinese users pay?

Doubao’s pay plans mark a turning point for China’s chatbot sector, but user reluctance raises doubts about their viability.

ByteDance faces challenges as it moves to offer paid subscription plans on Doubao amid soaring computing costs. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

China’s Alibaba, ByteDance and Zhipu AI make the cut on Time’s first AI A-list

China’s leading AI firms earn global recognition as Time debuts a dedicated industry list dominated by US tech giants.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba opens Qwen app to partners with China Eastern Airlines tie-up

Company pledges more partnerships to expand the agentic capabilities of its flagship consumer chatbot app.

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Artificial intelligence

Huawei launches AI glasses as China battle for smart wearables intensifies

Huawei’s debut adds momentum to China’s booming smart eyewear market, which saw shipments surge 35-fold in 2025.

Huawei’s new AI eyewear weighs 35.5 grams and features various functions ranging from voice interaction to payments. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

‘State-of-the-art’ models can struggle with basic office work, says AI executive

Advanced AI can ace Olympiad maths yet falters in routine office tasks as enterprises turn to smaller models for everyday use: David Meyer.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen family captures over 50% of global open-source downloads: report

Qwen hits nearly 1 billion cumulative downloads, far surpassing rivals like Meta Platforms’ Llama and DeepSeek, researchers say.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba cloud growth forecast to climb with AI push, higher charges: analysts

The company’s cloud and AI businesses are gaining speed, with token usage and pricing changes fuelling growth, analysts say.

The Alibaba building in Xuhui Binjiang Park, also known as “AI Park”, in Shanghai. Photo: EPA
Artificial intelligence

Competition or ‘co-opetition’: how is convergence shaping Sino-US AI race?

Speech by CEO of Chinese AI start-up at Nvidia event in US highlights symbiotic nature of tech relationship despite geopolitical tensions.

Illustration by Victor Sanjinez
Artificial intelligence

What is ‘tokenomics’ and how would China gain the edge in an AI era?

As tokens are positioned as the AI era’s commodity, China’s energy scale and low-cost models could give it a structural edge.

China trade

China’s AI edge built on power grid, open-source models: Alibaba’s Joe Tsai

Investment in power and open-source models, plus industrial depth, highlights China’s vast potential for AI applications, Joe Tsai says.

Artificial intelligence

Preview of Alibaba’s top AI model leads Chinese peers, lags US rivals

Qwen3.5-Max-Preview enters a global ranking at 15th, behind models from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.

A woman walks past the Alibaba logo on its building in Xuhui Binjiang Park, also known as AI Park, in Shanghai, on March 19, 2026. Photo: EPA
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba reshuffles AI units into a new ‘Token Hub’ group, led by CEO Eddie Wu

Intended to increase AI coordination, the group will sit alongside Alibaba Cloud and the company’s e-commerce divisions.

The Alibaba Token Hub Business Group brings all the company’s core AI teams and products together under one umbrella. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

China’s DeepSeek teams with Tencent, HKU on AI tool to sharpen 3D design

Open-source Pointer-CAD framework, built on Alibaba’s Qwen 2.5 model, enhances accuracy and efficiency in computer-aided design: researchers.

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Two Sessions 2026

China’s eastern, southern economic powerhouses vie for innovation leadership

Officials from Yangtze River Delta, Greater Bay Area outline ambitions after Xi Jinping calls on provincial economies to drive development.

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Alibaba

Alibaba task force, led by CEO Eddie Wu, will focus on AI model development

Wu affirmed in his letter that Alibaba would ‘uphold our open-source model strategy’ and scale up investment in AI.

Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming speaks at the opening of the company’s Apsara Conference in 2024. Photo: Weibo
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba recruits Google DeepMind contributor to join Qwen AI team: sources

Zhou Hao to join as head of post-training research, sources say, as technical lead Lin Junyang departs in reshuffle.

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China’s private sector

Will users stick around after China’s US$1 billion AI marketing battle?

Vouchers, red packets and sponsorships drove a surge in AI users over Chinese New Year, but now the tech giants face a retention test.

China-Middle East relations

Meet Habibi – the Chinese AI uniting 20 Arabic dialects in a Middle East first

Lead author says there are many differences between Arabic dialects and Modern Standard Arabic, which is used in official circumstances.

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Habibi, a model devised by a Chinese-led team, has “zero-shot” capability, meaning it can clone a dialect’s voice by using short reference audio, according to the researchers. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

China’s MiniMax, Moonshot top AI token use ranking, ending year of US dominance

AI hosting platform OpenRouter’s latest ranking shows high demand for Chinese open-source models following a series of new releases.

Chinese open-source AI models’ surge to the top of token usage on OpenRouter ended US labs’ reign on the platform’s leaderboard over the past year. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

AI apps soar in China as Lunar New Year giveaway battle boosts user growth

Tech firms score win as AI assistants become part of holiday consumption – from buying food and booking travel to planning entertainment.

Robotics

Opinion | Humans vs robots? China begs to disagree

As China embraces humanoid robots, policymakers and companies are expanding the scope of innovation and applications in daily life.

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Artificial intelligence

China’s tech giants pursue AI, semiconductor talent in US amid fierce rivalry

ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba Cloud and MiniMax are among the firms now actively recruiting fresh talent in the US.

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Major Chinese technology companies are ramping up recruitment of artificial intelligence and semiconductor talent in key US tech hubs. 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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Qwen 3.5 has performed on par with leading systems from US heavyweights OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

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

ByteDance, Unitree, RedNote, Bilibili and Kuaishou among the firms involved in the unparalleled nationwide marketing opportunity.

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Artificial intelligence

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

Companies should ‘uphold a fair and competitive’ environment to ‘foster innovation and healthy development’, regulator says.

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