China's tech firm Alibaba release AI model
BEIJING:
Chinese tech company Alibaba on Wednesday released a new version of its Qwen 2.5 artificial intelligence (AI) model that it claimed surpassed the highly acclaimed DeepSeek-V3.
The unusual timing of the Qwen 2.5-Max's release, on the first day of the Lunar New Year when most Chinese people are off work and with their families, points to the pressure Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's meteoric rise in the past three weeks has placed on not just overseas rivals, but also its domestic competition.
"Qwen 2.5-Max outperforms almost across the board GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3 and Llama-3.1-405B," Alibaba's cloud unit said in an announcement posted on its official WeChat account, referring to OpenAI and Meta's most advanced open-source AI models.
The January 10 release of DeepSeek's AI assistant, powered by the DeepSeek-V3 model, as well as the Jan 20 release of its R1 model, has shocked Silicon Valley and caused tech shares to plunge, with the Chinese startup's purportedly low development and usage costs prompting investors to question huge spending plans by leading AI firms in the United States.
But DeepSeek's success has also led to a scramble among its domestic competitors to upgrade their own AI models.
Two days after the release of DeepSeek-R1, TikTok owner ByteDance released an update to its flagship AI model, which it claimed outperformed Microsoft-backed OpenAI's o1 in AIME, a benchmark test that measures how well AI models understand and respond to complex instructions.
This echoed DeepSeek's claim that its R1 model rivalled OpenAI's o1 on several performance benchmarks.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
3 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Oil up 1% at 7-week high on hopes of positive US-China trade talks
NEW YORK: Oil prices edged up 1% to a seven-week high on Tuesday on hopes trade talks between the U.S. and China - the world's two biggest economies - will result in a deal that could support global economic growth and boost oil demand. Brent crude futures rose 81 cents, or 1.2%, to $67.85 a barrel by 11:22 a.m. EDT (1522 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 83 cents, or 1.3%, to $66.12. Those gains pushed both crude benchmarks into technically overbought territory for the first time since early April and put Brent on track for its highest close since April 17 and WTI on track for its highest close since April 3. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said trade talks with China were going well as the two sides met for a second day in London, seeking a breakthrough on export controls that have threatened a fresh rupture between the superpowers. 'There's a sense of optimism around these trade talks; the market is waiting to see what this will produce, and that is supporting prices,' said Harry Tchilinguirian, group head of research at Onyx Capital. On the supply side, allocations to Chinese refiners showed that Saudi Arabia's state oil company Saudi Aramco will ship about 47 million barrels of oil to China in July, 1 million barrels less than June's allotted volume, Reuters reported. The Saudi allocations could be an early sign that the unwinding of OPEC+ production cuts might not result in much additional supply, Tchilinguirian said. Saudi Arabia cuts July oil prices to Asia to 4-year low after OPEC+ supply boost OPEC+, which pumps about half of the world's oil and includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies like Russia, put forward plans for an output increase of 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) for July as it looks to unwind production cuts for a fourth straight month. A Reuters survey found that OPEC's May increase to oil output was limited, with Iraq, the second biggest OPEC producer behind Saudi Arabia, pumping below target to compensate for earlier overproduction, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates making smaller increases than agreed. Elsewhere, Iran said it would soon make a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems 'unacceptable', while U.S. President Donald Trump made clear that the two sides remained at odds over whether Tehran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium on Iranian soil. Iran is the third-largest OPEC producer and any easing of U.S. sanctions on Tehran should allow Iran to export more oil, which should reduce crude prices. In Europe, meanwhile, the European Commission proposed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, aimed at Moscow's energy revenues, banks and military industry. Russia was the world's second biggest crude producer in 2024 behind the U.S., and any increase in sanctions will likely keep more of that oil out of global markets, which could support oil prices. US oil inventories and exports The American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) are due to release U.S. oil inventory data on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Analysts forecast energy firms added about 0.1 million barrels of oil to U.S. stockpiles during the week ended June 6. If correct that would be the first storage increase in three weeks and compares with an increase of 3.7 million barrels during the same week last year and an average increase of 2.8 million barrels over the past five years (2020-2024).
Business Recorder
7 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Wheat and corn slip again on supply pressure, soybeans steady
PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat and corn futures fell for a second session on Tuesday, with corn setting a new 2025 low, as favourable crop conditions in the United States and elsewhere maintained supply pressure on the cereal markets. Soybeans edged higher as ongoing trade talks between China, the world's No. 1 importer of the oilseed, and the United States, the second-largest exporter, fuelled optimism about a resolution of the countries' tariff battle. The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 1.3% at $5.35 a bushel by 1135 GMT, retreating further from a seven-week peak struck during Monday's session. CBOT corn fell 0.7% to $4.30-1/2 a bushel. It earlier reached its weakest level since Dec. 5 at $4.30, below a previous six-month low hit last week. Wheat rallied last week as escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war and concerns over rain disrupting the U.S. harvest encouraged short-covering. But improved ratings for U.S. crops and a sharp upward revision by consultancy Sovecon to its forecast for Russia's 2025 wheat harvest put the focus back on the prospect of plentiful Northern Hemisphere harvests. In its weekly crop progress report released after Monday's market close, the U.S. Department of Agriculture increased its estimates for the share of U.S. winter and spring wheat in good/excellent condition by more than expected on average by analysts. Wheat flat-to-up 2 cents, corn down 1-3 cents, soy down 2-4 cents That took attention away from a rain-slowed start to the winter wheat harvest, with the USDA estimating 4% of the crop was harvested, lagging the five-year average of 7%. For corn, the agency increased its good-to-excellent score to above the average estimate by analysts surveyed by Reuters. 'U.S. weather forecasts remain favourable for corn development,' CM Navigator analyst Donatas Jankauskas said in a note. 'Concerns about the upcoming wheat crop are also not strong enough to support sustained rallies.' A slowdown in weekly U.S. wheat export inspections, also reported by the USDA on Monday, added to the bearish mood. U.S. corn export inspections topped trade expectations, but with Brazil's second-crop corn harvest getting started, the export window for U.S. corn sales may be narrowing, traders said. CBOT soybeans ticked up 0.1% to $10.57-1/4 a bushel. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday trade talks with China were going well as the two sides met for a second day in London. Chinese tit-for-tat tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods have curbed soybean trade, with Brazil dominating record Chinese soybean imports in May. After a bumper Brazilian harvest, a good start to the U.S. growing season was also hanging over the soybean market. The USDA rated 68% of the soybean crop as being in good to excellent condition, in line with expectations.
Business Recorder
8 hours ago
- Business Recorder
India, China seen aggressively buying palm oil in short term, industry expert says
JAKARTA: Demand for palm oil from India and China is expected to increase in coming months as recent price corrections provide attractive entry points for the big buyers, an industry expert said on Tuesday. Prices of palm oil in Malaysia gained nearly 20% last year, but shed around 12% so far this year as the high prices led to palm oil losing some competitive edge to rival oils such as soyoil. 'We feel in the short term, those markets will come back. We see heavy buying from India, China,' Julian McGill, managing director of advisory firm Glenauk Economics, said. 'We're not worried for the next year about a build up in stocks,' he told participants at a palm oil forum in Jakarta. He noted Indian buyers, who have been cutting palm oil imports since December, are coming back strongly with purchase for June to August as prices of palmolein are at a discount compared to rival oils. India's May palm oil imports jump to six-month high He said China's physical palm oil importers were also actively buying for June to August deliveries. 'The Chinese buyers may stock up quite a lot because their stocks are relatively low,' McGill said. The demand would help keep palm oil prices between 3,900 ringgit and 4,200 ringgit per metric ton in the coming six months, he said. The main palm oil contract in Malaysian bourse closed at 3,864 ringgit per ton on Tuesday. The sustainability of the demand would continue to depend on palm price competitiveness against other oils, with peak export volumes seen around August, McGill added.
