Alibaba releases open-sourced AI models to challenge Meta platform

• Alibaba Cloud open-sources Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat, 7B-parameter AI models.
• Open-sourced models target global academics, researchers, and businesses.
• China pushes AI development to compete with the US.

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group, has taken a significant step in the artificial intelligence (AI) arena by open-sourcing two large language models (LLM) named Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat.

Each model boasts 7 billion parameters, a measure of their strength, making it the first time a major Chinese tech company has released open-source LLMs.

This move comes as a response to Meta Platform’s recent unveiling of its own open-sourced AI model called Llama 2.

The trend of open-sourcing AI models has garnered widespread interest as it presents a potential challenge to the current market dominance of OpenAI and Google, whose models charge users hefty fees.

Alibaba Cloud had previously introduced its LLM named Tongyi Qianwen in April, which came in various versions with different parameter numbers.

Also Read

Alibaba wants to attract Chinese investors after a crackdown by adding a primary listing in Hong Kong

Alibaba (9988.HK) intends to complement its New York presence by adding a...

Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat are smaller versions aimed at facilitating AI adoption by small and medium-sized businesses.

The company’s announcement ensures that the code, model weights, and documentation of the two models will be freely accessible to academics, researchers, and commercial institutions worldwide.

However, companies with over 100 million monthly active users will require a license from Alibaba before using the models.

China has been actively pursuing AI development to catch up with the United States in the field.

Beijing encourages domestic companies to swiftly develop homegrown and “controllable” AI models that can rival those created by American companies.

Apart from Alibaba, other tech giants like Tencent Holdings and Huawei have also been vigorously working on their own AI models in recent months.

This strategic move by Alibaba Cloud to open-source its AI models not only showcases its commitment to advancing AI technology but also aims to democratize access to powerful language models for businesses and researchers globally.