Alibaba announced a new closed AI model—Qwen3.6‑Plus

Alibaba Switches to Closed AI Models to Boost Profits

Over the past three days, Alibaba unveiled three new “proprietary” artificial intelligence solutions. This event confirms the company’s business strategy: instead of continuing to publish open projects as before, the focus shifts toward monetizing key products.

- New models

*An updated image generator* and a *multimodal model* that accepts requests not only in text but also by voice or images.

*Flagship Qwen3.6‑Plus* – the latest addition to the trio.

All three solutions have closed source code: users cannot download them or use them in their own projects. This contrasts with the approach of Chinese competitors such as MiniMax and DeepSeek, which release open models, encouraging widespread adoption.

- Why the closed approach?

Alibaba aims to generate direct revenue from its products. Closed models allow the company to retain control over the technology and charge more clients. The company stated that it will continue to release open projects in the future, but for now the emphasis is on proprietary solutions.

- Monetization scenario

In a highly competitive Chinese e‑commerce AI market, AI solutions are becoming an important compensator. A corporate platform Wukong has already been launched and cloud resource prices for AI have increased. The new Qwen3.6‑Plus model will be integrated with Wukong and other agency applications, strengthening the ecosystem.

Thus, Alibaba is moving toward a “proprietary AI” strategy to increase profits while maintaining open initiatives in the future.