Alibaba previews Qwen3.8 AI model, claims second only to Claude Fable 5

Jul 19, 2026

Alibaba has previewed its 2.4 trillion-parameter AI model, Qwen3.8, claiming it is second only to Anthropic's Fable 5. The launch, which follows a rival release from China's Moonshot AI, is seen as a sign of China closing the AI gap with the U.S. However, Alibaba has provided no benchmark data to support its claims, a departure from its previous releases. The model is available in a priced preview on Alibaba's developer platforms.

Qwen3.8 model announcement

▪Alibaba claims its Qwen3.8 model is second only to Anthropic PBC's Claude Fable 5 among the world's frontier models
▪Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. previewed its new artificial intelligence model, Qwen3.8, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai
▪The preview version of the model is named Qwen3.8-Max-Preview

Technical specifications

▪The Qwen3.8 model is capable of processing images, video, and documents in addition to text
▪Qwen3.8 has 2.4 trillion parameters, making it the first model in the Qwen family to exceed 1 trillion parameters

Missing benchmark data

▪No independent evaluation has verified Qwen3.8's claimed ranking
▪Alibaba provided no benchmark scores, model card, or activated-parameter count to support its performance claims for Qwen3.8
▪The lack of data for Qwen3.8 contrasts with Alibaba's previous model, Qwen3.7-Max, which was released in May with a full set of published results

Pricing during preview

▪The preview is available on Alibaba's Qoder and QoderWork developer platforms and through its Token Plan subscription
▪During the preview period, Qwen3.8 is priced at 10% of the standard rate

Chinese AI competition

▪The launches of Qwen3.8 and Kimi K3 push Chinese developers into the multi-trillion-parameter AI model tier
▪The release of Qwen3.8 is viewed as a sign that China is closing the technological gap with the U.S. in AI
▪Three days before the Qwen3.8 preview, Chinese startup Beijing Moonshot AI Technology Co. Ltd. released Kimi K3, a 2.8 trillion-parameter model

Alibaba AI strategy

▪Alibaba's strategy is to become China's default AI supplier by releasing open-weight models to build a large developer community
▪Alibaba plans to make the Qwen3.8 model open-weight, allowing developers to download and modify it
▪Alibaba has not set a date or published license terms for the planned open-weight release of Qwen3.8