DeepSeek may be getting a lot of hype recently, but there's a new rival on the scene. Alibaba Cloud's Qwen series of AI models is setting a new standard for intelligence in the open-source world.

Earlier this year, Alibaba Cloud launched Qwen 2.5-Max – and it reportedly outperforms other foundation models like DeepSeek-V3, GPT-4o, and Llama-3.1-405B "almost across the board," according to the company. Not only that, but it also powered the top 10 open-source LLMs on Hugging Face's rankings last month. All of the top-ranked models on the Open LLM Leaderboard were trained and developed on the updated open-source versions of Qwen.

So what is Qwen, and what can you do with it? Let's take a closer look!

Qwen 2.5: Advancements and Features

The Qwen model series includes Qwen (an LLM), Qwen-VL (a vision-language model), Qwen-Audio, Qwen-Coder, and Qwen-Math. The latest Qwen 2.5 models have been pre-trained on a large-scale dataset of up to 18 trillion tokens, resulting in a substantial knowledge base as well as much-improved capabilities in coding and math.

In terms of performance metrics, Qwen 2.5 is quite impressive. It achieved a score of 85+ on the Massive Multitask Language Understanding (MMLU) benchmark, a HumanEval score of 85+ in coding, and a MATH benchmark score above 80.

Beyond these core competencies, Qwen 2.5 has highly advanced abilities in following instructions and understanding and generating structured data. It can handle diverse system prompts, demonstrating an adaptability that's well suited for role-based interactions and condition-setting for chatbots.

The models can even interact with software on PCs and mobile devices. One user posted a video online showing Qwen 2.5-VL opening the Booking.com app for Android and booking a flight from Chongqing to Beijing!

Specialized Models in the Qwen Family

Each open-source model in the Qwen series is designed for a specific domain. The following are the main options in the Qwen 2.5 lineup:

• Qwen 2.5-VL – This large vision-language model processes images, text, and bounding boxes to recognize and analyze content. It can read text in Chinese and English, compare visuals, create stories, solve math problems, and answer questions.

• Qwen 2.5-Audio – Designed to process audio and text, this audio language model accepts a variety of audio formats (including speech, music, and natural sounds) and generates text responses.

• Qwen 2.5-Max – Pre-trained on over 20 trillion tokens and post-trained with curated Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT), this high-performing Mixture-of-Expert (MoE) model has surpassed DeepSeek V3, Llama 3.1, and others in benchmarks like Arena-Hard, LiveBench, LiveCodeBench, and GPQA-Diamond.

• Qwen 2.5-Coder – This coding model supports up to 128K tokens of context, covers 92 programming languages, and delivers competitive performance against larger language models in code generation, multi-language coding, completion, and repair.

• Qwen 2.5-Math – Pre-trained and fine-tuned on synthesized data, this mathematical LLM supports English and Chinese queries and excels in Chain-of-Thought (CoT), Program-of-Thought (PoT), and Tool-Integrated Reasoning (TIR) while outperforming most 70B math models.

Furthermore, Qwen APIs enable users to develop generative AI applications for tasks like writing, image generation, and audio analysis, boosting efficiency and transforming the customer experience for businesses.

Powering Qwen with Vast.ai

Given how competitive the Qwen models are with larger, more established AI systems – and the fact that they're open source – they offer an exciting opportunity for AI researchers, developers, and enthusiasts to experiment and innovate at minimal cost.

However, deploying the models on high-performance hardware is crucial for optimal performance. That's where Vast.ai comes in. Our platform makes this possible with on-demand RTX 5090 GPU rental, for instance, providing the power needed to run Qwen models efficiently without the overhead of expensive infrastructure.

With many other GPU options in our marketplace, you can choose the right balance of performance and cost for your specific needs. Get started with Vast today and experience the full potential of Qwen with high-performance GPUs at your fingertips!