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Alibaba Introduces Six New Models to Power Open-Source Innovation

Also: Africa Harnesses AI for Local Solutions: AVPA 2025 Highlights Inclusive Innovation

AuthorAuthor

Rotimi Awaye & Olayemi Oluwakorede
September 25, 2025

TL;DR for this Update

  • Alibaba Introduces Six New Models to Power Open-Source Innovation

  • Africa Harnesses AI for Local Solutions: AVPA 2025 Highlights Inclusive Innovation - (AI in Africa)

  • Scale AI Launches SEAL Showdown to Challenge LMArena’s Reign in Model Rankings

  • Sam Altman Reveals Plans for Massive AI Infrastructure in New Blog

  • OpenAI, NVIDIA Forge $100B Partnership for 10GW AI Infrastructure

  • Facebook Dating Adds AI Assistant and ‘Meet Cute’ to Combat Swipe Fatigue

  • Grok-4 Fast: xAI Unveils Quicker, Smarter AI Model Upgrade

  • DeepMind Advances AI Safety With New Frontier Framework Update

  • Google Chrome Rolls Out New AI Features for Enhanced Browsing

  • Tool of the Week: Peplexity AI

Alibaba Introduces Six New Models to Power Open-Source Innovation

One of the biggest AI news this week is the release of six new Qwen models by Alibaba — yes, the same e-commerce titans you import your goods from. This marks a significant leap in open-source AI development and hybrid reasoning capabilities.

In case you never hear am before, Qwen:

  • Is Alibaba’s flagship large language model series, built to handle both natural language and multimodal data (images, video, audio), along with complex reasoning and coding tasks.

  • Models can generate text, images, code, offer translation, process documents, and assist with creative work and web development.

  • Includes unique features like "Thinking Mode," where the model can show its internal reasoning process and allow users to toggle how deeply it thinks on tasks.

  • Also features visual language (VL) extensions and agent capabilities that automate PC and mobile tasks and analyze multimedia data.

The New Qwen Models Released

  • The new “Qwen3” series introduces six dense models ranging in size—0.6B, 1.7B, 4B, 8B, 14B, and 32B parameters—as well as two Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) versions: 30B (with 3B activated parameters) and 235B (with 22B activated parameters).

  • All these models are open source and accessible for use globally, available via Hugging Face, GitHub, and Alibaba’s Qwen Chat app.

  • Qwen3 models set benchmarks for hybrid reasoning, allowing AI to switch between “thinking mode” for deep, multi-step tasks (math, coding, logic) and “non-thinking mode” for faster general interactions.

  • Notably, the MoE (Mixture-of-Experts) architecture means the largest model (Qwen3-235B) only activates a fraction of its parameters per task, balancing massive capability with compute efficiency.

  • These models support extreme context windows (up to 1M tokens), enabling advanced document and multimodal processing.

Where to Get Qwen Models

To use or try the Qwen models, check these direct links:

How Qwen Models Stand Out

  • Qwen3-Max uses a Mixture-of-Experts architecture, so it balances massive computational strength with efficiency, able to process huge context windows (up to one million tokens) and enable deep, multi-step reasoning. It outperforms many top global models in human-aligned benchmarks, creative writing, coding, and scientific logic.

  • “Thinking” and “non-thinking” modes mean the model can switch gears—do fast summaries or take time to solve complex math or code challenges. Coders, shey una dey see update?!

  • Qwen3-VL and its siblings are specialized for text + images, advanced vision tasks, and even video and voice generation, making them versatile for research and practical business.

  • The safety guard models (Qwen3Guard) help moderate AI-generated content for ethical, legal, or platform requirements.

  • Machine translation with Qwen-MT now covers 92 global languages, making cross-border communication seamless and accurate.

Kini Big Deal? (Why does it matter?)

Mixture-of-Experts. Safety moderation. Hybrid reasoning. Too much big English! The koko of the matter is that Alibaba's move to open-source Qwen, with hundreds of model variants available, is a game-changer for the global AI ecosystem. Developers, researchers, startups, and companies like ours, can now tap world-class intelligence directly for free or at a fraction of ordinary cost.

In short, if you have been using Alibaba platform or you're looking for a powerful, affordable, and versatile AI, the Qwen release is a serious upgrade to watch! Don’t sleep on it!

AI in Africa

Africa Harnesses AI for Local Solutions: AVPA 2025 Highlights Inclusive Innovation

Africa is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) not just for automation, but as a tool to solve pressing local challenges in health, education, agriculture, and economic inclusion—with real life examples like smarter disease diagnosis, farm protection, and language support for students. The AVPA 2025 Conference, coming up on the 5th of November, will focus on how AI, blended with smart investment and sound policies, can drive inclusive growth across the continent. It asks big questions about scaling, funding, and safeguarding AI for good, showing how Africa can leapfrog old pathways and create its own digital future if leaders, investors, and communities work together.

If you want practical stories, investor insights, and a peek at the big conversations shaping Africa’s future, check out the full article and details for the Nairobi event:

The 2025 AVPA Conference

Tool of The Week: Perplexity

This gap between static conversational AIs and the ever-evolving web was exactly what one man sought to fix. Aravind Srinivas had interned at Google DeepMind, where he got a front-row seat to how the world’s most powerful search engine works. Later, he worked full-time at OpenAI, learning how conversational AI could simplify access to information.

What happens when someone who understands both worlds— search engines and large language models— tries to build a better tool?

You get Perplexity AI.

Perplexity is a new kind of answer engine. It responds like ChatGPT, but behind the scenes, it’s scanning the internet in real-time. Instead of giving you outdated guesses or dumping a blizzard of blue links on you, it does the hard research—searching, sorting, verifying. Gbam! It responds with up-to-date answers tailored for your specific query (Read More).

And there you have it! That’s all I can fit into today’s update. See you later this week. Peace! 🤓 

Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post, as it expresses my own opinions.

About Me

I'm Awaye Rotimi A., your AI Educator and Consultant. I envision a world where cutting-edge technology not only drives efficiency but also scales productivity for individuals and organisations. My passion lies in democratising AI solutions and firmly believing in empowering and educating the African community. Contact me directly, and let’s discuss what AI can do for you and your organisation

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