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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.
Alo’s Tmall store pictured on a smart phone in Beijing. Photo: Simon Song
Alibaba

Alibaba targets record Singles’ Day with 1 million brands joining festival

Over 70 million products are also expected to feature this year, as the e-commerce giant expands Qwen-powered tools and pushes international sales.

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Apple

China approves Alibaba AI models for use in iPhone Duo and other Apple handsets

Artificial intelligence

Nvidia-backed US start-up unveils AI model to challenge China’s open-weight lead

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Alibaba

Alibaba unveils ‘pragmatic’ AI road map to drive monetisation as capex soars

Current investor sentiment has shifted from enthusiasm for AI catalysts to the need for tangible returns and infrastructure efficiency.

A display promoting the Qwen Intelligence agentic solution is seen at Alibaba’s Apsara Conference on Thursday. Photo: Wency Chen
Artificial intelligence

Moonshot’s Kimi K3 lands on Amazon in key test for Chinese open-source AI income

Open-weight models allow users around the world to use, copy, modify and distribute the software without paying the model developer.

Artificial intelligence

China is beating the US in consumer AI adoption, thanks to super apps: report

While the US has a lead in frontier AI, China’s advantage stems from distributing services through platforms tailored to local habits.

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Artificial intelligence

A ploy to entrench US lead? China pushes back on calls for slowdown in AI

Chinese researchers say a slowdown would protect established US incumbents while freezing latecomers out of the market.

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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei addresses the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India, February 19, 2026. Photo: Reuters
US-China trade war

Anthropic claims Moonshot, DeepSeek secretly diverted user requests to Claude

AI giants accused of cloning American models by funnelling real Chinese user queries to them via network of intermediate platforms.

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Artificial intelligence

China rejects US AI model distillation allegations, warns of retaliation

The commerce ministry says distillation is ‘neutral’ and widely used by companies around the world, including American firms.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s AI ‘employees’ can now work in ByteDance, Tencent apps

QoderWake tool now lets users create assistants that can function within office communication platforms from rivals, as well as Alibaba’s.

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A woman walks past an Alibaba Group sign at an office complex in Shenzhen, in southern China’s Guangdong province, on March 25, 2026. Photo: Getty Images
China-Africa relations

African businesses keep options open as Chinese AI gains ground

Lower costs, downloadable models and greater language flexibility are helping Chinese AI models gain ground across the continent.

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Chinese AI models including DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen and Moonshot AI’s Kimi are gaining ground with African businesses. Photo: Shutterstock
China technology

Opinion | Asia is reaching for the open road that Chinese AI offers

Countries seeking sovereign AI want to control their own AI capabilities rather than rent them from a foreign platform.

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Alibaba

Alibaba to issue US$10 billion in new shares for global AI push

The Chinese tech giant is going ‘full stack’, expanding beyond retail into chips, cloud and large language models as surging spending weighs on quarterly profits.

United States

Opinion | America is arguing over the wrong AI obstacle

Sluggish adoption can’t be blamed on overregulation, and restricting access to US frontier models is no defence against open-source Chinese rivals.

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US President Donald Trump displaying a signed executive order related to his AI Action Plan at the “Winning the AI Race” summit in Washington, D.C. on July 23, 2025. Photo: Getty Images
Artificial intelligence

24 hours with Tencent’s WeChat AI agent: successes and stumbles

The new Xiaowei agent promises hands-free control across WeChat’s vast digital ecosystem. I set out to see whether it delivers.

Xiaowei sits inside an ecosystem where messaging, payments and millions of mini-programs have already coexisted for years. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Artificial intelligence

Back in the Harness: DeepSeek continues its pivot towards agentic AI

With the launch of Harness, China’s DeepSeek continues to build the foundational digital scaffolding for autonomous AI agents.

Alibaba

Alibaba adds commercial restrictions to open-weight Qwen3.8-Max AI model

In a strategy shift, Alibaba’s flagship Qwen3.8-Max model comes with terms for certain companies using it to generate revenue.

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Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek’s flagship AI model update underwhelms – except in cybersecurity

Chinese AI start-up’s model impresses in niche areas like cybersecurity but leaves some developers disappointed in its overall capabilities.

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Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek quietly released an updated version of its latest flagship model, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-0813, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
Alibaba

From CXMT to Zhipu AI, Alibaba’s strategic investments are paying off

The company’s strategic shift to AI and chip investments is not only yielding significant returns, but also boosting its tech portfolio.

Artificial intelligence

Moonshot AI pushes China closer to US in frontier tech

An overwhelming rush to sign up for Moonshot’s Kimi K3 model underscores how China is rapidly gaining ground on the US in artificial intelligence.

Alibaba

Alibaba previews Qwen3.8, claiming its strength trails only Anthropic’s Fable 5

Preview reflects the latest phase in China’s AI push, as domestic labs chase parity with US heavyweights.

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With 2.4 trillion parameters, Qwen3.8 is “one of the most powerful models available today”, according to Alibaba. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Humanoids to Huawei: what to watch as Xi attends China’s top AI event

Gathering will showcase Beijing’s push to compete across the full AI stack, from models and chips to robots, consumer devices.

People walk near the entrance of the the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center, venue for the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, in Shanghai on July 16. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

AI | Chinese AI giants, start-ups ready for the agentic web era

With artificially intelligent agents set to become our interface with the digital world, Chinese tech platforms are embedding them and launching AI-native products.

Alibaba

Why Alibaba shares just scored their strongest gains in Hong Kong this year

UBS and Jefferies project the firm’s revenue to accelerate to 9% in June quarter, well above the 3% recorded in the previous quarter.

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China economy

Opinion | Are the US’ AI models better than China’s? That may be beside the point

Rather than fight US frontier AI control, China is thinning the margins of premium AI with cheap-enough, good-enough models for mass adoption.

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People try products at AI+ Power 2026, Hong Kong’s largest artificial intelligence expo and conference, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on June 4. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Artificial intelligence

Meta’s new AI research chief says agents are next big real-world milestone

UC Berkeley’s RDI centre earlier this month introduced Agents’ Last Exam, a new benchmark that tests how well AI agents perform.

Meta Platforms’ new AI research vice president Dawn Song at Summer Davos in Dalian, China on June 23 Photo: Vincent Chow
Artificial intelligence

Faster AI, lower costs: DSpark eases bottlenecks and chip strain, says DeepSeek

Start-up unveils speculative decoding framework that speeds up inference by up to 85 per cent amid China’s push to overcome US AI curbs.

Alibaba

Alibaba slashes Qwen AI model price during US working hours in fight for users

The aggressive price cut comes amid intense rivalry between US and Chinese artificial intelligence firms.

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