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The Global Model Families

🌏 Qwen, Gemma & Others⏱ 10 min⭐ 100 BASE XP⌨ HANDS-ON LAB

Beyond Llama & Mistral

Qwen (Alibaba)

Alibaba has adopted a dual strategy. While their May 2026 Qwen 3.7 models were strictly proprietary, the Qwen 3.8 series (August 2026) marks a massive return to open weights. They have also heavily pivoted into robotics with the Qwen-Robot Suite.

ModelTypeActive ParamsBest For
Qwen3.8-MaxAPI-Only2.4TProprietary flagship (Aug 3, 2026)
Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95BMoE95B of 2.4TOpen-weights frontier MoE (Aug 12, 2026)
Qwen3.8-27BDense27BDense multimodal, Apache 2.0 (Aug 14, 2026)
Qwen3.6-27BDense27BConsistent high performance (legacy)
Qwen3.6-35B-A3BMoE3B of 35BUltra-efficient inference (legacy)

Key feature: Thinking/Non-Thinking modes - switch between deep reasoning and fast responses in a single model.

Google Gemma 4

Apache 2.0, edge-optimized with native multimodality:

  • Gemma 4 E2B: ~2.3B params, smartphones & IoT
  • Gemma 4 E4B: ~4.5B params, flagship mobile devices
  • 128K context window, 2-bit/4-bit quantization support
  • Runs on Android, iOS, Raspberry Pi, and in-browser via WebGPU

Other Notable Families

FamilyCreatorStandout Feature
Phi-4MicrosoftSmall but mighty (14B rivals 70B models)
Command-R+CohereOptimized for RAG & enterprise search
Yi-Lightning01.AIChinese-English bilingual excellence
🐳 Edge Container: Run Gemma 4 in Docker with Ollama:
docker run -d --gpus all -p 11434:11434 ollama/ollama && docker exec -it $(docker ps -q) ollama run gemma4:4b
⌨ HANDS-ON LABBenchmark Qwen 2.5 Coder Output
⭐ +150 XP

Run Qwen 2.5 Coder in the terminal to generate an optimized binary search function.

1Invoke qwen2.5-coder via ollama with a code generation prompt.
lab-sandbox — simulated environment
INFINITY LAB SANDBOX v2.6 — simulated shell
Type the command for the current objective. Helpers: "hint", "solution", "clear".
$
OBJECTIVE 1 / 1 — type "hint" if stuck
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
QUERY 1 // 2
What is unique about Qwen 3.6's Thinking/Non-Thinking modes?
Different model files
Toggleable deep reasoning vs fast responses in one model
Only works in Chinese
Requires special hardware