Alibaba sets to compete with international AI players in product overhaul

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is planning to overhaul its flagship mobile artificial-intelligence application, repositioning it to challenge the dominance of ChatGPT.

The redesign, scheduled for release over the next several months, represents one of Alibaba’s most ambitious efforts yet to leverage its computing power to make inroads into the consumer electronics market.

Alibaba will begin by updating its current “Tongyi” apps on both iOS and Android to “Qwen” after incorporating an in-house large language model. The move is designed to unify its AI brand and deliver a more cohesive experience for customers.

Alibaba eventually hopes to turn Qwen into an intelligent “AI agent,” capable of more than just chatting, but also executing functions such as searching for products, providing personalized recommendations, and making purchases on Taobao and other in-house products. The revamp will reposition Qwen as a multi-purpose assistant that helps simplify day-to-day interactions with the firm’s extensive digital universe.

The tech giant has deployed more than 100 engineers to focus on the redesign, indicating that it’s an across-the-board move for consumer AI. It’s all part of Eddie Wu, the chief executive officer’s, vision for “full-stack AI development” — creating everything from the chip up to consumer applications.

Wu first indicated this direction at an investor briefing in September, where he made it clear that AI will be the company’s growth engine over the next decade.

Qwen revamp builds on advanced model upgrades

Alibaba will provide the most recent AI foundation models, guiding the enhanced Qwen app as it undergoes a series of significant updates throughout 2025.

Alibaba presents Qwen, its new multimodal model designed for the combined processing of text, image, and speech. The agency said it outperformed several other domestic shops in logic and creativity tests.

Early iterations of the new Qwen app will be free, which gives Alibaba time to build an audience before introducing additional paid tiers or value-added services. It also hopes to maintain its e-commerce lead and win user mindshare as it moves into commerce-oriented functions, such as a virtual, AI-powered shopping assistant, to create new revenue-generating channels.

Within Alibaba, the project is referred to as a “strategic bridge” between Alibaba Cloud and its consumer applications. And if it pans out, it could bring all the company’s AI efforts under one, dominant platform for users — a contrast to separate initiatives, such as its Tongyi Qianwen transcription app, the assistant-driven (though still in testing) Qwen Chat, and its AI-backed Quark search app.

Alibaba expands its bet on agentic AI

Alibaba’s next phase is to create what it calls agentic AI — systems that can perform tasks on behalf of users. In real-world terms, that would enable users to ask Qwen to find the best deal for a laptop or schedule a grocery delivery, and the AI could process that interaction without any additional input.

Alibaba’s Qwen app could also roll out a global version to help it grow beyond China. Sources familiar with the strategy indicated that the company is considering multilingual support and in-region partnerships to launch in Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern markets.

There’s no confirmed timeline, but if this expansion were to occur, it might further enhance Alibaba’s competitiveness internationally against AI players like ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini.

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