Microsoft Launches 'Decision-1' AI Model Based on Alibaba's Qwen Architecture

Microsoft introduced Microsoft-Decision-1, a new AI decision model designed for structured, high-speed classification tasks to compete directly with TypeSafe AI's Jev. The model API costs $0.042 per million input tokens and offers completely free output tokens, significantly undercutting the cost of using traditional large language models for routing. Microsoft claims the model operates 2.8x faster than Jev and achieves an 83.5% accuracy rate across 36 industry benchmarks, while testing 2.5x faster than H2O-Lightning-4B. The initial release is built on top of Qwen3.5-9B, an open-weight model developed by Alibaba Cloud, though Microsoft disclosed it intends to rebase the system on its own or OpenAI's technology in the future. "Unlike LLMs, which are designed to generate text or reason through complex problems, decision models are purpose-built to deliver structured outputs that software can immediately act on." — Achint Srivastava