The Chinese technology giant Alibaba has announced a breakthrough in reducing the cost of training AI models focused on search. This was reported by SCMP.
Researchers have introduced a new approach called ZeroSearch. It reportedly enhances the search capabilities of neural networks by 88% through simulations without interacting with real systems like Google.
The method avoids the high costs often associated with routing queries through commercial tools. Models already trained on extensive knowledge bases generate “quality content” in response to queries.
ZeroSearch is claimed to transform a benchmark model into a search engine capable of training other AI systems to respond to queries. The technology reduces reliance on costly external search infrastructure.
For instance, sending 64,000 queries to Google via API cost $586.7. Generating responses for training using an AI model with 14 billion parameters cost $70.8.
The innovation could expand search capabilities, researchers noted.
In April, the Chinese tech giant released a new family of AI models, Qwen3, which “are capable of matching or even surpassing in some cases” the best solutions from Google and OpenAI.