Alibaba rolls out Qwen 3.5 as AI race heats up before Lunar New Year

If you use AI to write, research, plan trips, or even shop for groceries, the competition just intensified. Alibaba has released Qwen 3.5, the latest update to its flagship artificial-intelligence model, in a high-stakes push ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Hangzhou-based company says Qwen 3.5 comes with stronger reasoning and more advanced agentic capabilities, meaning it can handle more complex, multi-step tasks on its own. It also processes images and videos better than earlier versions, expanding what users can do beyond text prompts.

Language access is another big play. Alibaba says Qwen 3.5 supports more than 200 languages, including many spoken across South Asia, Oceania, and Africa, signaling an aggressive push into global markets that are often underserved by major AI platforms.

In a move aimed at developers and cost-conscious businesses, Alibaba also released an open-source version of Qwen 3.5. The company says the model can match the performance of a previous-generation system while being about 60 percent smaller, a shift designed to help users cut computing costs.

The timing is no accident. The Lunar New Year holiday has turned into what some describe as a Chinese version of the Super Bowl for AI companies, with firms racing to showcase new capabilities and lock in users for their chatbots. These tools are increasingly capable of handling complex research, automating workflows, and managing everyday tasks.

Alibaba is positioning Qwen 3.5 as a serious contender in a crowded field where performance, cost efficiency, and global reach could determine which AI platforms dominate daily life in 2026.