Chinese tech giant Alibaba has launched its latest AI model, Qwen 2.5-Max, claiming it surpasses OpenAI’s GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and Meta’s Llama-3.1-405B. The announcement follows the rapid rise of DeepSeek, a startup that disrupted the AI landscape with its low-cost, high-performance models.
DeepSeek’s recent releases, including its AI assistant powered by DeepSeek-V3 on January 10 and the R1 model on January 20, sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley, causing a decline in tech stocks and pressuring AI leaders to reassess their strategies.
Alibaba’s move is seen as a direct response to DeepSeek’s success. The company’s cloud division had previously slashed AI pricing by up to 97% after DeepSeek-V2 sparked an AI price war in China. Other Chinese tech giants, including Baidu, Tencent, and ByteDance, have also intensified their AI development efforts to stay competitive.
DeepSeek’s lean, research-driven approach—led by its elusive founder Liang Wenfeng—contrasts sharply with the structured, high-cost operations of Alibaba and other tech behemoths. Liang has emphasized the pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) over market-driven price wars.
With Alibaba, OpenAI, and DeepSeek all vying for dominance, the AI race is heating up, pushing boundaries in both innovation and affordability.
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