Latest news with #K2
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Poland secures $4 billion US loan guarantee to boost military modernization
Find out what's new on ST website and app. FILE PHOTO: Polish soldiers ride the South Korean-made K2 tank during trial drills prior to annual artillery show 'Autumn Fire 23' at a military range in Bemowo Piskie near Orzysz, Poland, September 16, 2023. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo WARSAW - Poland is set to sign a $4 billion U.S. loan guarantee to help fund the modernization of its armed forces, the Polish defense ministry said on Thursday. Amid heightened regional tensions and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, Poland is ramping up defense spending and accelerating efforts to modernize its military, aiming to strengthen NATO's eastern flank. Since 2022 the United States has provided Poland with over $11 billion of loans and loan guarantees to finance armament programs, including Patriot air defense systems, the HIMARS rocket system and Apache helicopters. Spurred by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland became NATO's top spender in terms of the proportion of its national wealth devoted to defense. Warsaw said it will spend 4.7% of gross domestic product on defense in 2025 with a pledge to increase this to 5% in 2026. REUTERS
The Diplomat
a day ago
- Business
- The Diplomat
China Now Dominates Open Source AI. How Much Does That Matter?
U.S. AI models still control over 70 percent of the market, but a collaborative, open source approach has enabled Chinese labs to punch far above their weight. U.S. AI models still control over 70 percent of the market, but a collaborative, open source approach has enabled Chinese labs to punch far above their weight. For the second time in six months, a small Chinese artificial intelligence lab has made major waves across the global landscape. Moonshot AI, with just a few hundred employees, recently released its K2 model to remarkable acclaim. On OpenRouter, a platform that tracks which AI models developers actually pay to use, K2 quickly surpassed offerings from well-funded U.S. competitors including xAI and Meta. This achievement mirrors the success of DeepSeek, another Chinese AI model that made headlines earlier this year. Both share a crucial characteristic: they are open source, meaning their underlying code and architecture are freely available for anyone to examine, modify, and build upon. Among big labs in the United States, only Meta has followed suit. But with the social media giant's latest model widely considered a flop, China is now the undisputed leader in open source AI development. To understand why this matters requires clarifying what 'open source' means in the context of AI. Open source AI models are free to download but, unlike most open source software, they come with significant operational expenses. When DeepSeek offered free access to consumers, many confused this promotional strategy with the inherent nature of open source models. In reality, all base models require significant computing power, whether it's paid for by the hosting company – as in the case of consumer products or APIs – or the user. For everyday consumers, the distinction between open-source and closed is invisible. Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT offer free basic access. Despite the enthusiasm around DeepSeek's launch, ChatGPT still commands six times as many users globally. The same ranking that showed Moonshot surpassing xAI and Meta has Anthropic and Google alone with majority market share. Nonetheless, K2 is remarkably efficient. The rates for programmatic access to the best version of the model are comparable to the rates for Google and OpenAI's cheapest models. That is not because K2 is open source, but is in large part thanks to efficiency gains made possible by China's open source AI culture. Moonshot drew heavily from DeepSeek's architecture, to the point that one engineer described K2 as 'fulfilling a prophecy that the DeepSeek team had already made.' This collaborative approach echoes the early days of U.S. AI development, when Google's publication of transformer architecture and release of tools like TensorFlow catalyzed the entire field. U.S. AI labs have since focused on proprietary models instead. Chinese offerings may become the default choice for researchers looking for models they can modify and customize, which could subtly shape how AI systems understand and interact with the world. Some research suggests Western models reflect Western worldviews, and Chinese models may well do the same. While enthusiasts quickly release 'uncensored' versions, like Perplexity's DeepSeek 1776, which speak freely on topics forbidden in China, more fundamental assumptions about society, relationships, and values may remain deeply embedded in the training. A growing community of programmers worldwide is now working to adapt and improve these Chinese models for specific uses, potentially accelerating their development. In the words of another Moonshot engineer, 'open-sourcing allows us to leverage the power of the developer community to improve the technical ecosystem. Within 24 hours of our release, the community had already implemented K2 in MLX, with 4-bit quantization [allowing a compressed version of the model to run on Apple devices] and more – things we truly don't have the manpower to accomplish ourselves at this stage.' But for now, open source models serve primarily specialized purposes: handling sensitive information that can't be sent to commercial services (which is unlikely to be entrusted to Chinese models anytime soon), or running AI on devices disconnected from the internet. Industry watchers expect Moonshot to soon release a 'reasoning' model designed to match the previous generation of U.S. AI systems. When that happens, we can expect another wave of concern about China's AI progress. Much of this anxiety will be overblown – U.S. models still control over 70 percent of the market on platforms like OpenRouter, and U.S. firms continue to push the boundaries of what's possible while Chinese labs focus on optimization and efficiency. Nevertheless, K2 represents a significant achievement, particularly given the constraints under which Chinese AI researchers operate. The collaborative, open source approach has enabled Chinese labs to punch far above their weight, just as the United States' strongest open source advocate, Meta, stumbles. Much is yet to be written: Meta has gone on a multibillion dollar spending spree to right their ship and OpenAI will release their own open source model in the coming weeks. But as more developers worldwide turn to Chinese models as their starting point, the long-term implications for global AI development – and the values embedded within these systems – deserve serious consideration.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Alibaba introduces advanced AI coding model Qwen3-Coder
Alibaba Group has launched Qwen3-Coder, an open-source AI model designed for software development. According to the Chinese technology giant, the model is specifically tailored for tasks such as code generation and managing intricate coding workflows. Alibaba highlighted that Qwen3-Coder excels in "agentic AI coding tasks", which involve automated processes where AI systems address programming challenges autonomously. Performance data from Alibaba indicates that Qwen3-Coder has surpassed domestic rivals such as DeepSeek and Moonshot AI's K2 in core coding competencies. Furthermore, Qwen3-Coder is reportedly on par with leading US models, including Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's GPT-4, in specific areas. The model is available in various sizes, with the most powerful version being Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B-Instruct. This variant features 480 billion parameters and 35 billion active parameters, setting new benchmarks among open models for Agentic Coding, Agentic Browser-Use, and Agentic Tool-Use. Alibaba claimed that the model provides long-context understanding and generation with a context length of 256,000 tokens, extendable up to one million tokens using Yarn. The model supports 358 coding languages and is optimised for repository-scale comprehension. In parallel, Alibaba subsidiary Alibaba Cloud is expanding its collaboration with HP to develop AI PCs in China. This partnership involves integrating Alibaba's open-source large language model, Qwen, with three billion parameters, into HP's smart assistant "Xiaowei Hui". This integration aims to enhance the AI PC experience by offering functionalities such as smart document drafting and intelligent meeting note summarisation. Qwen has been deployed across industries such as automotive, smartphones, robotics, and home appliances. It powers advanced AI features for various sectors, including robotics, automakers and home appliances. "Alibaba introduces advanced AI coding model Qwen3-Coder" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Alibaba launches open-source AI coding model, touted as its most advanced to date
Alibaba Group announced on Wednesday the launch of Qwen3-Coder, an open-source artificial intelligence model for software development that the Chinese e-commerce giant described as its most advanced coding tool to date. The launch comes amid intensifying competition among Chinese technology companies in the global AI development race, with firms on both sides of the Pacific releasing increasingly sophisticated models. Qwen3-Coder is designed for software development tasks such as code generation and managing complex coding workflows, Alibaba said in a statement. The company positioned the model as particularly strong in " agentic AI coding tasks " - automated processes where AI systems can work independently on programming challenges. According to performance data released by Alibaba, Qwen3-Coder outperformed domestic competitors, including models from DeepSeek and Moonshot AI's K2 in key coding capabilities. The company also claimed its model matched the performance of leading U.S. models, including Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's GPT-4 in certain areas.
TECHx
a day ago
- Business
- TECHx
Alibaba AI Model Targets Coding Efficiency with Qwen3
Home » Latest news » Alibaba AI Model Targets Coding Efficiency with Qwen3 Alibaba AI Model Qwen3-Coder enables developers to automate coding tasks, generate code, and manage workflows with open-source access. Alibaba Group announced the launch of Qwen3-Coder, an open-source artificial intelligence model designed to support software development. The company described it as its most advanced coding tool so far. The new Alibaba AI model is built to handle a range of programming tasks. These include code generation and managing complex workflows. According to the company, the model is particularly effective in agentic AI coding. This refers to automated tasks where the AI system can independently solve programming problems. The move reflects ongoing competition among Chinese tech firms in global AI development. Companies in China and the United States continue to introduce increasingly advanced models. In performance tests, Alibaba reported that Qwen3-Coder outperformed local models such as DeepSeek and Moonshot AI's K2 in key coding tasks. The company also revealed that its model performed at levels comparable to U.S.-based tools like Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's GPT-4 in certain areas. Key points: Qwen3-Coder focuses on coding tasks and automation Alibaba says it surpasses some Chinese peers in performance Reported to match certain U.S. models in specific capabilities The Qwen3-Coder model is available as open-source, making it accessible for developers and organizations looking to integrate AI into software development processes. Source: Reuters
