Alibaba unveiled Qwen3.5, an AI model designed for the 'agentic AI era' that can execute complex tasks independently and take actions across mobile and desktop apps. The model is 60% cheaper to use and eight times better at processing large workloads than its predecessor, with Alibaba claiming it outperforms major U.S. models including GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3 Pro on several benchmarks. The release intensifies competition in China's AI market, where ByteDance's Doubao currently dominates with nearly 200 million users. This represents a significant advance in making autonomous AI agents more accessible and cost-effective for enterprise deployment.