Qwen releases Qwen-Image-2.1 with transparent backgrounds and multi-image editing

Alibaba’s Qwen has released Qwen-Image-2.1, an open-weight image-generation and editing model with a 7 billion parameter visual component. Qwen announces in an official blog post that the model combines text-to-image generation, image editing, and native transparency support in one system. The release targets a growing demand for image models that can do more than create …

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Nvidia RTX Spark laptops bring local AI to the PC

Nvidia’s RTX Spark chip is arriving in laptops and compact desktop PCs designed to run AI models directly on the device. The systems, unveiled by Nvidia partners at IFA in Berlin, target users who want to use AI agents and other demanding tools without sending sensitive data to cloud services. Luke Larsen reports for WIRED …

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Qwen3.8 27B delivers capable local AI work on Apple silicon, but at a speed cost

Qwen3.8 27B can handle everyday local AI tasks such as document classification, feed summaries, and long discussion recaps, according to benchmarks from a Mac Studio. However, its new architecture currently produces text much more slowly than its predecessor on Apple hardware. Hemant Kumar writes for TerminalBytes that the 27.3-billion-parameter model generated an average of 14 …

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OpenClaw’s biggest update aims to make AI agents easier to use

Open-source AI platform OpenClaw has released version 2.0, its largest update so far. The release combines a simpler installation process, a redesigned browser app, and shared cloud sessions that let several people work with the same AI agent. According to the OpenClaw Foundation, 933 contributors worked on the update, which includes more than 16,000 pull …

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Qwen3.8-Flash-Next: Alibaba puts a 125-billion-parameter model on a 6-billion-parameter diet

Alibaba has introduced Qwen3.8-Flash-Next, a multimodal AI model designed to deliver strong coding and workplace performance while using far less computing power than larger rivals. Matthias Bastian reports for The Decoder that the release also previews architectural ideas Alibaba plans to bring to its future Qwen4 model family. Qwen3.8-Flash-Next contains 125 billion parameters overall, but …

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Ox Alpha steps out of the shadows as Z.ai’s GLM-5.3-Flash

Chinese AI company Z.ai has confirmed that the previously anonymous Ox Alpha model is GLM-5.3-Flash, a new multimodal member of its GLM model family. The company says it plans to release the model’s weights, allowing developers to run, adapt and build products with the system. Luz Ding reports for Bloomberg that Ox Alpha rose rapidly …

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Perplexity launches local AI agent Portable Computer with Nvidia

Perplexity has launched Portable Computer, a version of its AI agent platform that runs on a user’s own Nvidia equipped hardware rather than primarily in the cloud. Michael Nuñez reports for VentureBeat that the product was developed with Nvidia and is initially available for Linux systems with supported RTX graphics cards and Nvidia’s DGX Spark …

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Apple’s M5 Ultra Mac Studio targets large local AI models

Apple has introduced a new Mac Studio built around its M5 Ultra chip, positioning the desktop as a machine for running large AI models locally rather than relying entirely on cloud services. The top configuration supports up to 512GB of unified memory, a key specification for people who want to load larger language models, image …

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Alibaba’s Qwen3.8-27B brings advanced AI tasks to local hardware

Alibaba has released Qwen3.8-27B, an open-weight AI model designed to handle coding, reasoning, images and video on local machines. Carl Franzen reports for VentureBeat that the 27-billion-parameter model is available under the Apache 2.0 licence, allowing companies and developers to download, adapt and host it themselves. The release has attracted attention because of its balance …

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