On February 16, 2026, Alibaba launched its new artificial intelligence model, Qwen 3.5, which is touted as a significant advancement in the AI landscape. This model is designed to execute complex tasks independently and boasts an impressive performance improvement, being '60% cheaper to use and eight times better at processing large workloads' compared to its predecessor. Alibaba's statement emphasized that Qwen 3.5 is 'built for the agentic AI era,' aiming to enhance productivity for developers and enterprises. The release is strategically timed to attract users to Alibaba's Qwen chatbot app, which competes against ByteDance's Doubao, currently leading the Chinese market with nearly 200 million users. The competition is heating up, as ByteDance recently launched Doubao 2.0, positioning it as a formidable rival in the AI sector. The rapid developments in this space underscore a fierce race among major players in AI technology, with Alibaba's recent coupon campaign reportedly leading to a seven-fold increase in active users despite some operational glitches.