Alibaba claims its latest AI model, Qwen3, is hot on the heels of Anthropic’s Fable 5.
Alibaba has introduced an initial version of Qwen3.8, the most powerful AI model in its Qwen series. According to the Chinese tech company, the model is among the absolute world leaders and only trails Anthropic Fable 5. However, this claim has not yet been confirmed. Alibaba has not published any benchmark results or technical documentation to support the model’s performance.
More than 1 trillion parameters
The preview version, Qwen3.8-Max-Preview, has 2.4 trillion parameters, making it the first Qwen model with more than one trillion parameters that can process not only text, but also images, videos, and documents.
Alibaba describes the model as a continuously evolving preview. An official model card, information regarding the number of active parameters, and detailed benchmark results are currently missing. This is notable, as its predecessor Qwen3.7-Max, which was released in May, was launched with extensive performance tests.
Alibaba continues to build its AI ecosystem
Qwen is a key part of Alibaba’s strategy to become a leading AI provider in China. In addition to developing large language models, the company is investing heavily in cloud infrastructure and its own AI chips to run these models efficiently.
Furthermore, Alibaba has opted for an open approach for some time, allowing developers to deploy and customize the models themselves. According to the company, the weights for Qwen3.8 should also become available in due course, though no specific date has been announced yet.