 "Qwen AI: Alibaba releases new artificial intelligence model as race for post-DeepSeek leadership")
Tech giant Alibaba Group has joined the AI race after launching its artificial intelligence model Qwen 3 on Tuesday, an upgraded version of its flagship model that is equipped with new hybrid reasoning capabilities.
The launch of Qwen 3 comes as competition in the Chinese AI sector intensifies after the breakout success of local startup DeepSeek earlier this year, which claimed to have built high-performing models at lower costs than their Western counterparts.
What’s new?
The Qwen3 series features two mixture-of-experts (MoE) models designed to compete with hybrid reasoning systems, recently launched by Anthropic and Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet.
DeepSeek already employs MoE in its AI models. The technique basically breaks down tasks into smaller sets of data, much like how teams are divided into specific segments to conduct work more efficiently.
Earlier this year, Alibaba announced its full commitment to the AI race and, just weeks ago, released a new model from its Qwen 2.5 series capable of processing text, images, audio, and video. The model is efficient enough to run on smartphones and laptops, and in March, the company also introduced an updated version of its AI assistant, the Quark app.
OpenAI introduces new models
In the meantime, OpenAI is also developing its artificial intelligence models. Earlier this month, the tech giant released a new artificial intelligence model that has the ability to “think with images” and analyse and understand diagrams and sketches provided by users, even if they are low-quality.
The ChatGPT maker’s new AI model is called o3, which was rolled out with a mini version dubbed o4-mini. This is the second innovation in OpenAI’s reasoning models, the first in September when the tech giant launched its first model, o1 and revolutionised the world of AI.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWith o3, users can upload whiteboards, sketches, and other images for the AI to analyse and discuss. The models also support image editing features like zooming, rotating, and more.
With inputs from agencies
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