Alibaba Unveils Powerful AI Model and Industry-Specific Solutions

Alibaba’s new AI model Tongyi Qianwen aims to serve the industry players and to intensify the competition.

Creator: blackdovfx | Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

HONG KONG- In a recent announcement, Chinese tech giant Alibaba revealed the advancement of its AI model, Tongyi Qianwen, and the release of specialized AI models tailored for various industries.

Tongyi Qianwen 2.0

Alibaba's cloud computing arm proudly introduced the world to Tongyi Qianwen 2.0 at its annual conference in Hangzhou. This enhanced AI model boasts an astonishing "hundreds of billions of" parameters, solidifying its position as one of the most powerful AI models globally, as measured by this critical benchmark. This remarkable progress comes just six months after the model's initial release, highlighting the fierce competition among tech companies eager to seize the burgeoning AI market in China.

To put this achievement into context, Tencent, one of Alibaba's major competitors, has recently described the current AI landscape in China as a "war of a hundred models," with over 130 AI models flooding the market. Tencent's own Hunyuan AI, with more than 100 billion parameters, even surpasses OpenAI's GPT-4 model in handling the Chinese language.

In comparison, Microsoft-backed OpenAI's GPT-3 model featured 175 billion parameters in 2020, while Meta Platform's Llama 2 model had 70 billion parameters in 2023. Alibaba's rapid progress showcases its determination to lead the AI race and provide cutting-edge solutions to its customers.

Industry-Specific AI Models

Alibaba's commitment to AI innovation extends beyond Tongyi Qianwen 2.0. The company has also unveiled a suite of industry-specific AI models designed to cater to the unique needs of various sectors. These models are intended for the entertainment, finance, healthcare, and legal industries, offering dedicated tools for creating images, writing computer code, analyzing financial data, and searching for legal documents. This move underlines Alibaba's vision to provide practical, tailored solutions to its clients across diverse fields.

Alibaba's Chairman, Joe Tsai, shared during the conference that around half of large-language AI models in China are now powered by Alibaba Cloud. He also emphasized the company's commitment to fostering AI development, with the AI model-sharing platform ModelScope currently hosting 2,300 models and involving 2.7 million contributing developers. This ecosystem is expected to further drive innovation and empower businesses with AI capabilities.