Alibaba's Qwen team has unveiled its latest AI model, Qwen3.8-Max, claiming it can operate autonomously for extended periods—up to five days—without human oversight. The announcement, made on Monday, positions the model as a direct competitor to Anthropic's Claude, which has been touted for similar capabilities.
According to the Qwen team, the model delivered "comprehensive improvements across coding, work, research, and long-horizon tasks." In one test, Qwen3.8-Max reportedly worked "completely on its own for about five days or 125 hours of continuous effort," reconstructing a mathematics research paper's experiment from scratch and then enhancing it. In another, the model entered a live online contest against 526 human teams, finishing ahead of all but 68 under a 24-hour deadline.
Anthropic's parallel claims
Anthropic, the US-based AI firm, has made similar assertions about its own models. Its Claude Code tool can read software, plan fixes, and test its work with minimal human input. The company's newest model, Claude Opus 5, launched on 24 July, is designed to run unsupervised for long stretches and handles unfamiliar problems better than earlier versions. Anthropic also offers Claude Cowork, which lets users delegate longer tasks like research, spreadsheets, and first drafts to the AI.
Neither company's results have been independently verified, and both are presenting data that reflects favorably on their products. This is a common pattern in the competitive AI landscape, where marketing often outpaces independent validation.
Why this matters for Europe
The release is the clearest sign yet that China and the United States are now racing on the same track. Washington has spent the past two years restricting the export of advanced chips to Chinese AI firms, aiming to keep companies like Alibaba a generation behind. Alibaba's answer is to show it is not behind at all—and to go further by making Qwen3.8-Max's weights freely available, inviting the world to check its claims rather than take them on trust.
For European observers, this competition has direct implications. The EU has been grappling with its own AI strategy, balancing innovation with regulation. The bloc's recent antitrust actions against tech giants reflect a broader desire to assert digital sovereignty. Meanwhile, European companies and researchers are watching closely, as the availability of open-weight models like Qwen could offer alternatives to US-dominated AI platforms.
The autonomous capabilities claimed by both Alibaba and Anthropic also raise questions about oversight and accountability. As AI systems take on longer, more complex tasks, the potential for errors or unintended consequences grows. This is a concern that resonates in Europe, where regulators are drafting rules for high-risk AI applications under the EU AI Act.
In the short term, the rivalry between Alibaba and Anthropic is likely to accelerate innovation, but it also underscores the need for robust evaluation frameworks. Independent testing, transparency, and international cooperation will be essential to ensure that these powerful tools are used responsibly.
For now, the claims from both companies remain unverified. But the direction is clear: AI is moving toward greater autonomy, and the race to lead that shift is global. Europe, with its focus on ethical AI and regulatory leadership, has a stake in how this unfolds.
