According to reports, Alibaba Group is planning to release Qwen 3, an upgraded version of its flagship AI model, as soon as this month with competition from rivals including OpenAI and DeepSeek heating up.

A source familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity due to the information being confidential, indicated that the new product from the Hangzhou-based firm could potentially launch later in April, although the precise date may still be delayed. The Chinese news source Huxiu previously reported on Alibaba's intentions.

Since fully committing to the technology this year, Alibaba has been launching AI products at a rapid rate.

A week ago, the leading ecommerce and cloud computing company in China released a new model in its Qwen 2.5 series, capable of processing text, images, audio, and video — efficiently enough to operate directly on mobile devices and laptops. Last month, a new version of the AI assistant app Quark was also revealed.

After DeepSeek, a competitor from Hangzhou, surpassed OpenAI with an impressive model reportedly developed for only a few million dollars, China's technology giants have inundated the market with a swift series of affordable AI offerings.

The influx of new models from Asia poses a risk to premium US products from companies such as OpenAI, Alphabet's Google, and Microsoft.

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Recently, OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have also launched a series of new models. OpenAI recently announced its intention to launch a more “open” model that emulates human reasoning in the upcoming months, marking a strategic change following the release of open-source AI systems by DeepSeek and Alibaba.