01What Qwen 3.8 Max Is and How It Works

Qwen 3.8 Max is a massive AI model from Alibaba with 2.4 trillion total parameters. Alibaba says it is the second most powerful AI model in the world. Only Claude's Fable 5 beats it, according to Alibaba.

This model is not fully out yet. Alibaba released a preview version, not the finished public model. The full open version that anyone can download has not landed.

So everything you see in this episode is based on testing the preview build.

Think of Qwen 3.8 Max like a huge office building with thousands of workers. When a task arrives, not every worker wakes up. Only a small team gets picked for that job.

That is called a mixture-of-experts design. Alibaba has not said exactly how many workers show up for each task. That detail affects speed and size.

Shuai Bai, a developer on the Qwen team, said this is the team's first model over 1 trillion parameters that can handle multiple types of information at once: pictures, videos, documents, and text.

02Main Features and What's New in Qwen 3.8 Max

  • 2.4 trillion total parameters – a huge number that sounds impressive, but the active parameters per task might be lower.
  • Mixture-of-experts design – only a subset of parameters activates for each query, which affects speed and efficiency.
  • Multimodal capabilities – can handle images, videos, documents, and text, making it useful for business tasks.
  • Strong at software development – can handle full projects from front to back.
  • Good at reading and organizing data – useful for office tasks and data analysis.
  • Everyday office tasks – designed to help with common business workflows.

The model landed just two days after Moonshot AI released Kimi K3, which has 2.8 trillion parameters. Alibaba owns a piece of Moonshot AI, so this feels like two teams from the same building racing each other. The message from Alibaba is clear: they are not behind.

03How to Get Started with Qwen 3.8 Max (Preview)

  1. Go to Alibaba's token plan page or the coding platforms called Coder and Coder Work.
  2. Sign up or log in to the platform of your choice.
  3. Choose the Qwen 3.8 Max preview version from the available models.
  4. Start a new chat or project, depending on the platform.
  5. Type a prompt describing the task you want to accomplish, like building a landing page or writing emails.
  6. Review the output and edit it as needed.

That's it. The preview is live today. Full open access, where anyone can download the model and run it themselves, hasn't happened yet.

Alibaba says that's coming soon, but no exact date was given.

04Practical Workflows You Can Build with Qwen 3.8 Max

Once the model is fully live, you can use it for real business tasks. Here are three examples shown in this episode.

1. Build a landing page. You can prompt: 'Build a landing page for the AI profit boardroom. Show real results members are getting from AI automation.

Explain the four weekly coaching calls, the daily tutorials and the prompt library. Make it feel simple and trustworthy for a business owner who has never used AI before.' In under a minute, you get a full draft ready to edit, instead of starting from a blank page.

2. Automate support replies. If members send screenshots of automation errors all day, you can prompt: 'Look at this screenshot from an AI profit boardroom member. Explain what's causing the automation error in plain English.

Then write a short friendly reply I can send them with the fix.' That turns a 10-minute reply into seconds.

3. Write onboarding emails. You can ask: 'Write five short emails for new AI profit boardroom members. Each one should highlight one benefit like the coaching calls, the roadmaps or the member map.

Keep the tone friendly and simple and end each email with one clear next step.' You get a full week of emails in one pass.

4. Handle screen recordings. If a lead sends a screen recording asking how your service works, you can prompt the model to analyze the video and give you a ready reply. No need to watch the whole thing yourself.

05Why the Mixture-of-Experts Design Matters

The 2.4 trillion parameter number is a headline, but it's not the full picture. A parameter isn't a brain cell that's always on. With a mixture-of-experts design, only a small part of the model activates for any single task.

For comparison, DeepSeek's V4 Pro has 1.6 trillion total parameters but only turns on about 49 billion for each answer. That's a big difference in speed and cost.

Alibaba hasn't shared how many parameters Qwen 3.8 Max activates per task. Until they do, it's hard to know how fast and heavy the model really is. This detail is crucial for businesses deciding whether to run the model locally or use a cloud API.

Shuai Bai's clue about multimodal support is more important than the total count. Being able to handle images, videos, and documents at once means you can automate more complex workflows.

06Tips, Limits, and Mistakes to Avoid with Qwen 3.8 Max

  • Don't assume it's fully ready. The preview is not the final product. Wait for the full open version before building critical systems.
  • Don't focus only on the parameter count. The active parameters per task matter more than the total. Until Alibaba reveals that, treat the 2.4 trillion as a marketing number.
  • Start with simple prompts. Give clear, specific instructions like the examples in this episode. Vague prompts produce vague results.
  • Expect to edit. The output is a draft, not final. You still need to review and polish before publishing.
  • Test early. The businesses that keep testing early tools tend to stay ahead. Waiting six months means scrambling to catch up.

One warning: the full open access hasn't happened yet. Alibaba says 'coming soon,' but no date. Don't build your entire business on a model that isn't publicly available yet.

07Who Is Qwen 3.8 Max For and Why It Matters

Qwen 3.8 Max is for business owners, developers, and content creators who want to automate daily tasks. You don't need to be technical. The examples here show simple prompts that anyone can use.

Why does it matter? Every few months, the ceiling on what's possible gets pushed higher. Tools built on top of these models keep landing in the hands of regular business owners faster than ever.

The ones who stay curious and test early tend to be the ones still standing strong a year later.

Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, the host Julian Goldie and team walk members through how to plug models like this into their business step by step. They run four live coaching calls every week, provide a prompt library for real business tasks, and have a member map to connect with nearby business owners testing the same tools.

If you want a free start, the AI Success Lab gives you the full process, SOPs, and over 100 real AI use cases. It has a community of over 87,000 members using AI daily.

08Qwen 3.8 Max vs. Competitors: Timing and Positioning

Qwen 3.8 Max arrived right after Moonshot AI's Kimi K3, which has 2.8 trillion parameters. That timing matters. Alibaba wanted to say, 'We're not behind.

We're right there.'

Alibaba also owns a piece of Moonshot AI, so this isn't a distant rival. It's almost like two teams from the same building racing each other.

In the broader AI race, Alibaba claims Qwen 3.8 Max is the second most powerful model globally, only behind Claude's Fable 5. That's a bold claim, and until independent benchmarks come out, you should take it with a grain of salt.

For users, the practical takeaway is that open-weight models are getting better and more capable. That means more options for building your own AI-powered products without relying on a single provider.