Alibaba accelerates AI push by releasing new open-source models, text-to-video

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese technology company Alibaba (NYSE:) released on Thursday new open-source artificial intelligence models and text-to-video AI technology, intensifying its efforts to compete in the booming area of generative AI.

The open-source models, numbering more than 100, come from Alibaba’s Qwen 2.5 family, its latest foundational large language model released in May.

Chinese technology companies, like their U.S. counterparts, have been investing heavily in generative AI, with firms racing to develop robust product portfolios and diversified offerings.

While competitors such as Baidu (NASDAQ:) and OpenAI have primarily adopted closed-source approaches, Alibaba has embraced a hybrid model, investing in both proprietary and open-source development to broaden its AI product range.

Its new models range from 0.5 to 72 billion parameters – the variables that determine an AI model’s capability and performance – in size, offering proficiency in mathematics, coding, and support for over 29 languages, Alibaba said in a statement.

The models aim to cater to a wide array of AI applications across various sectors including automotive, gaming, and scientific research.

Alibaba on Thursday also unveiled a new text-to-video model as part of its Tongyi Wanxiang image generation family, joining a growing number of Chinese tech firms entering this emerging market.

The move puts Alibaba in direct competition with global players such as OpenAI, which has also shown interest in text-to-video technology.

In August, ByteDance, owner of TikTok, launched its text-to-video app Jimeng AI on Apple (NASDAQ:)’s App Store for Chinese users.