The race for artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy among tech giants is heating up. Recently, Chinese tech giant Alibaba officially launched its new AI model, Qwen 2.5-Max, which is considered superior to current top AI tools like GPT-4 from OpenAI, Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Meta’s Llama 3.1.
Alibaba launches AI Qwen 2.5-Max – 1
China’s tech giant Alibaba introduces a powerful AI tool (Image: FS).
Qwen 2.5-Max: Superior Capabilities
Qwen 2.5-Max not only outperforms Western competitors but also surpasses China’s DeepSeek-V3, released in December 2024. Notably, DeepSeek-V3 is not the strongest version of this series, as DeepSeek-R1 was launched on January 20 with more improvements.
According to Alibaba, Qwen 2.5-Max demonstrated outstanding performance in various standard tests, including MMLU-Pro (academic knowledge), LiveCodeBench (programming), LiveBench (general assessment), and GPQA-Diamond (reasoning). This showcases the versatile application potential of this AI model across multiple fields.
The AI Race Between the U.S. and China
The launch of Qwen 2.5-Max is a clear indicator of the tech competition between the U.S. and China. With abundant resources, Alibaba has invested heavily in developing its AI models, creating fierce competition with Western companies like OpenAI and Meta.
Additionally, the Chinese AI market is witnessing intense internal competition. Last week, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, announced an update to its AI model Doubao-1.5-pro, which reportedly outperformed OpenAI o1 in the AIME test. This highlights the rapid and continuous development of the AI industry in China.
Free Trials and Commercial Opportunities
Alibaba allows developers to experience Qwen 2.5-Max for free through the Qwen Chat website. Unlike previous versions such as Qwen 2.5 and Qwen 2.5-1M, the new model is not freely licensed on open-source platforms like GitHub and Hugging Face. This reflects Alibaba’s strong commercial strategy in developing and distributing AI products.
Conclusion
The launch of Qwen 2.5-Max marks a significant step forward for Alibaba and is a testament to the rapid growth of the AI industry in China. With superior capabilities across multiple domains, Qwen 2.5-Max promises to be a formidable competitor in the global AI race. Developers and businesses can explore the potential of this model through the Qwen Chat website, opening up opportunities for AI applications in various industries.
