Alibaba’s Qwen unveils 2.4 trillion parameter AI model, open weights coming next week

Alibaba’s Qwen team just dropped its biggest model yet. Qwen3.8-Max packs 2.4 trillion parameters and, according to internal benchmarks, sits right behind Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 in performance rankings. The open weights are slated for release next week, which would make it one of the largest openly available AI models ever. The model is multimodal, meaning it handles text, images, and potentially other data types rather than being limited to a single input format. Early access is already live through platforms like Token Plan and Qoder, with promotional discounts reaching up to 90% off standard pricing. The timing is deliberate. Qwen3.8-Max arrived roughly one week after Moonshot AI launched its Kimi K3 model. What’s notably absent from the launch is a detailed breakdown of active parameters or comprehensive third-party benchmark results. Claiming 2.4 trillion total parameters is impressive on paper, but in mixture-of-experts architectures, only a fraction of those parameters activate for any given query. Without that number, it’s hard to compare apples to apples with Western counterparts. There’s also the pricing pressure angle. Alibaba offering 90% discounts on API access isn...