[WORLD] Alibaba Cloud introduced its latest artificial intelligence model in its "Qwen series" on Thursday, as competition for huge language models in China heats up following the "DeepSeek moment."
According to a statement on the Alibaba Cloud website, the new "Qwen2.5-Omni-7B" is a multimodal model that can handle inputs such as text, photos, audio, and videos while delivering real-time text and natural speech responses. According to the company, the model may be used on edge devices such as mobile phones, providing high efficiency while maintaining performance.
"This unique combination makes it the perfect foundation for developing agile, cost-effective AI agents that deliver tangible value, especially intelligent voice applications," the Chinese company stated.
For example, it may be used to assist a visually impaired person in navigating their environment by providing real-time audio description, according to the business. The new model is open-source on the Hugging Face and Github platforms, continuing a growing trend in China that began with DeepSeek's groundbreaking R1 model.
Open-source models have become a cornerstone of the AI business, enabling increased cooperation and innovation. By making the Qwen2.5-Omni-7B model open-source, Alibaba Cloud hopes to promote a developer community that can build on and improve the model's capabilities, potentially leading to new applications and solutions that benefit a wide range of sectors.
Over the years, Alibaba Cloud claims to have open-sourced over 200 generative AI models. Amid China's AI fever, fueled by DeepSeek, Alibaba and other generative AI competitors have been producing new, low-cost models and products at an unprecedented rate. Baidu, the Chinese tech behemoth, recently published a new multimodal foundational model as well as its first reasoning-focused model.
Meanwhile, Alibaba introduced its revised Qwen 2.5 artificial intelligence model in late January and a new version of its AI assistant tool Quark earlier this month.
The business has made a strong commitment to its AI strategy, saying last month that it will invest $53 billion on cloud computing and AI infrastructure over the next three years, more than it has spent in the field over the previous decade.
This large investment demonstrates Alibaba's long-term ambition for AI and its ability to impact a variety of industries. The startup intends to apply its AI skills to improve user experiences, increase business efficiencies, and generate new opportunities in healthcare, education, and transportation. With the Qwen2.5-Omni-7B model, Alibaba is not only focusing on technological advancement but also on ensuring that these advancements are accessible and scalable.
Kai Wang, Asia senior equities analyst at Morningstar, said CNBC that huge Chinese tech companies such as Alibaba, who develop data centers to address AI processing needs in addition to building their own LLMs, are best positioned to benefit from China's post-DeepSeek AI boom. Alibaba earned a significant success for its AI business last month when it announced a partnership with Apple to roll out AI integration for iPhones sold in China.
On Wednesday, the company also announced an expanded strategic agreement with BMW to speed up the integration of its AI into the automaker's next-generation intelligent vehicles.
These collaborations demonstrate the growing importance of AI in the consumer electronics and automobile industries. Alibaba is establishing itself as a major participant in the global technology market by incorporating its AI models into products such as iPhones and BMW cars. The Qwen2.5-Omni-7B model, with its multimodal capabilities, is projected to play an important part in these integrations, enabling improved user experiences via sophisticated AI functionality.
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