A research team led by Alibaba Cloud was the only group from China to receive a top award at this year’s NeurIPS, or the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, billed as the artificial intelligence industry’s most prestigious annual event. The research could lead to drastic improvements in the efficiency of large language models (LLMs), significantly reducing both training and inference costs for Alibaba Group Holding’s next generation of Qwen models without sacrificing...

Chinese onshore investor frenzy for artificial intelligence chips has intensified, with the initial public offering (IPO) of Beijing-based graphics processing unit (GPU) maker Moore Threads drawing more than 4,000 times subscription from retail investors this week. The red-hot demand for Moore Threads highlights China’s determination to build home-grown alternatives to Nvidia’s chips, and is expected to accelerate listing plans for other domestic GPU developers, from MetaX to Biren...

Alibaba Group Holding on Thursday launched its first artificial intelligence glasses in China, as the tech giant seeks to carve out a solid niche in the growing smart wearables market. The Quark AI Glasses, named after the company’s Quark AI assistant, include three versions each of the series’ flagship S1 model and the lightweight G1 model. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. “AI glasses are the intelligent devices that truly usher in a revolution in human-computer interaction in the AI...

UBS has warned of greater market volatility next year, citing risks ranging from weaker-than-expected artificial intelligence revenue to geopolitical tensions, but the Swiss investment bank remains bullish about Chinese technology shares and gold. UBS identified five major market risks for next year: economic weakness, a resurgence of inflation, government debts, renewed US-China conflicts, and disappointing returns from AI after three years of heavy investment. “One point that we can be very...

Xiaomi has hired a former engineer from Tesla’s Optimus team, Zach Lu Zeyu, to join the Chinese tech giant’s robotics initiatives, as the talent grab in the industry intensifies. Lu, previously a senior robotics engineer focused on the Optimus humanoid robot, joined Xiaomi last month to lead the Beijing-based firm’s dexterous hand research and development operations, according to his LinkedIn page. During his two years at Tesla, Lu worked on the design for dexterous grasping and manipulation, as...

Chinese tech giant Baidu is cutting an undisclosed number of jobs across major divisions and restructuring artificial intelligence teams, as the company moves to streamline operations following a loss-making quarter, according to multiple sources. Baidu has axed staff in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, affecting multiple major business units from its mobile ecosystem group, which includes its bread-and-butter search business, to intelligent cloud and technology platform groups, according to...

The Jack Ma Foundation said on Thursday it would donate HK$30 million (US$3.9 million) to support families, firefighters and rescuers affected by a deadly fire at a housing estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district. In a statement, the foundation – established by the founder of Alibaba Group Holding and Ant Group – expressed solidarity with all those affected by the tragedy. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The donation follows a further commitment of HK$20 million from Alibaba and HK$10...