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

Artificial intelligence

China takes confident strides to develop more AI innovation in 2026

Artificial intelligence

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

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.

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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Illustration by Lau Ka-kuen
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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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.

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’.

Alibaba has been driving the adoption and commercialisation of the Qwen series over the past two years amid the global AI surge. Photo: Reuters
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.

Open-source AI models from Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen and DeepSeek are driving the international adoption of Chinese large language models. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China tech war

Editorial | China’s low-cost AI is showing up America’s high-cost tech model

The real China threat is in exposing America’s AI myths by showing what can be achieved at much lower costs and with greater efficiency.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen app becomes the world’s fastest growing AI app as MAUs surge 149%

Just two weeks into its public beta, Qwen has shown explosive growth, underscoring Alibaba’s challenge to global rivals OpenAI and Google.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba Cloud team wins top AI award for breakthrough in model efficiency

The research could help reduce training and inference costs for Alibaba’s next generation Qwen models without sacrificing accuracy.

In this photo illustration, the Qwen logo is displayed on a smartphone with the Alibaba logo in the background. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Tencent

Alibaba bets on ‘everything app’ Qwen to define AI era for global consumers

Qwen has the potential to become super-app, the same way Tencent’s WeChat defined the mobile internet age, analysts say.

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The Qwen app is designed to meet both the professional and personal needs of users, with capabilities including deep research, image generation and slide generation. Photo: Handout
Alibaba

Alibaba’s Qwen app challenges AI subscription models with free access

The new app is designed to be a free-of-charge, comprehensive AI assistant in both professional and personal settings.

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Alibaba

Alibaba revamps chatbot amid US ‘panic’ over firm’s AI progress

Alibaba dubs the updated app, renamed from Tongyi to Qwen, the ‘most powerful official AI assistant’ for its Qwen models.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba slashes Qwen3-Max model charges up to 50% amid latest AI price war

The new pricing strategy reflects heightened competition in China’s foundational model market.

Qwen3-Max is the first trillion-parameter model from Alibaba’s AI and cloud services unit. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

This AI model’s US$10,000 investment has the best return. Guess who?

Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen3-Max posts a 22.32 per cent return on a US$10,000 investment in two weeks, topping a “real money” AI crypto trading test.

Meet the young engineers steering Alibaba’s AI future at Tongyi Lab

A look at the achievements and research directions of the lead architects at Alibaba’s core AI engineering team.

Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek and Qwen AI models crush Western rivals in cryptocurrency trading challenge

In a real-world test of trading intelligence, China’s DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen AI models have outpaced their Western rivals including GPT.

DeepSeek’s Chat V3.1 model grew its initial capital of US$10,000 to US$22,900 in the showdown. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Airbnb chooses Alibaba’s open-source AI over ‘not ready’ ChatGPT

Airbnb ‘relies heavily’ on Alibaba’s Qwen models to power its AI customer service agent, CEO Brian Chesky says.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo: AFP
Alibaba

Alibaba’s Qwen lab sets up robotics team, showcasing its AI ambitions

The announcement suggests the Chinese tech giant is accelerating its development in the field of AI-powered hardware.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba transfers AI scientist Steven Hoi to Tongyi Lab, boosting Qwen efforts

At Tongyi Lab, Hoi is expected to help further develop Qwen, the world’s largest open-source AI ecosystem.

Alibaba

Alibaba model tops global AI rankings as Chinese open systems flourish

Alibaba’s open-source models make up half of the top 10 spots on Hugging Face’s trending rankings.

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Alibaba’s new multimodal model has become the most popular open-source system on Hugging Face. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba: latest AI model Qwen3-Max rivals best from OpenAI, Google

Alibaba Cloud announced the Qwen3-Max model, with over 1 trillion parameters, just hours ahead of the annual Apsara Conference in Hangzhou.

Qwen3-Max is not open-sourced but is accessible through Alibaba’s cloud computing platform. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba releases record-setting next-generation Qwen3 model to cut costs by 90%

A variant of the new model is 10 times more powerful and can be built at a 10th of the cost of its predecessor, Qwen developers say.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen3 and Moonshot’s Kimi-K2 storm into global AI rankings

Qwen3-max-preview and Kimi-K2-0905 debut in sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the latest ‘text-arena’ ranking by LMArena.

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