Not Just DeepSeek - Alibaba Unveils AI Model To Rival OpenAI's Operator

On Monday, Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba Group Holding’s BABA cloud unit released a new family of AI models, Qwen2.5-VL, that can parse files, comprehend videos, count objects in images, and control a PC.

This model is similar to the one powering OpenAI’s recently launched Operator. Qwen2.5-VL model claimed to beat OpenAI’s GPT-4o, Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash in various video understanding, math, document analysis, and question-answering evaluations, TechCrunch reports.

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Qwen2.5-VL claimed it can analyze charts and graphics, extract data from invoice and form scans, and comprehend multiple-hour-long videos.

It can also recognize IPs from films and TV series.

Qwen2.5-VL can interact with software both on PCs and mobile devices. It can launch the Booking.com app for Android and can book a flight from Chongqing to Beijing, TechCrunch cites from Hugging Face tech lead Philipp Schmid’s video tweet on X.

In January, Alibaba Cloud launched new AI tools and LLMs at its developer summit. Alibaba’s cloud revenue grew 7% to $4.22 billion in second-quarter.

Meanwhile, U.S. tech stocks plunged in premarket trading Monday as Chinese open-source artificial intelligence platform DeepSeek R1 triggered market jitters over sustainability of the AI technology investment in the U.S. tech firms. Nvidia Corp NVDA lost $600 billion in market cap on Monday.

DeepSeek’s open-source AI model, developed for under $6 million, reportedly outperformed leading U.S. models like those from OpenAI.

Reportedly, Microsoft Corp MSFT committed $80 billion in AI infrastructure spending for 2025, and Meta Platforms Inc META earmarked $60-65 billion.

For context, the Biden administration had slapped multiple semiconductor technology embargoes on China, restricting the country from accessing sophisticated AI technologies from Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co TSM citing national security threats.

Investors can gain exposure to stocks of companies domiciled in China through the iShares China Large-Cap ETF FXI and the KraneShares Trust KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF KWEB.

Price Action: BABA stock closed higher by 1.06% at $90.94 premarket at the last check on Tuesday.

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