Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. is preparing an overhaul of its main mobile AI app in coming months to help it more closely resemble OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a key step in a broader effort to catch rivals and eventually earn money off individual users.
Alibaba plans to start by updating the existing “Tongyi” apps on iOS and Android and renaming them “Qwen,” after the company’s well-known AI model, people familiar with the matter said. It will then gradually add agentic-AI features to support shopping on platforms including the main Taobao marketplace in coming months, the people said, asking to remain anonymous discussing private deliberations.
The end goal is to try and make Qwen a fully functioning AI agent, the people said, a prime objective for the industry both in the US and China. Alibaba plans to eventually expand globally with an overseas version, the people said. It’s dedicated more than 100 developers from around the company to the makeover over past months, as part of additional AI investments that Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu teased in September, the people said.
The Qwen revamp marks one of Alibaba’s biggest moves so far to try and wring revenue from consumer-facing services. The Chinese e-commerce firm has joined rivals from startup Minimax to ByteDance Ltd. in rolling out ever-more advanced AI models, each trying to outdo sector leaders like OpenAI and DeepSeek on performance.
But for many companies, the monetization model has largely been focused on serving businesses with deeper pockets, rather than Chinese consumers less comfortable with paying for online services. In Alibaba’s case, Qwen also lags behind ByteDance’s Doubao and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Yuanbao in terms of user popularity. By incorporating shopping features, Alibaba may be hoping to use its traditional strength in e-commerce to draw users in.
Alibaba operates not just the Tongyi consumer apps but also “Qwen Chat” on both iOS and Android, though the latter has less functionality. The idea is to streamline the look and feel for consumers under the Qwen banner and make it the go-to app, the people said.
The revamped Qwen app will remain free to users for now, according to the people. But building a user base will help Alibaba charge for consumer-facing services in future. Beyond revenue, the creation of a one-stop shop for mobile users could also burnish its brand in an overcrowded market.
From Huawei Technologies Co. to Tencent, China’s biggest tech companies are pouring unprecedented sums of money into AI. They join a wave of spending by American counterparts from OpenAI to Meta Platforms Inc. seeking to build and popularize a technology with the potential to transform economies and tip the world’s geopolitical balance.
In September, Wu outlined his own plans to roll out new models and “full-stack” AI technology, reflecting Alibaba’s ambitions to both develop services and the infrastructure — such as chips — that underpin the technology.
Alibaba has attempted to bring its AI capabilities to consumers before. It revamped search app Quark earlier this year with plans to make it an all-round AI assistant. The app will remain available for users.
In the most recent quarter, Alibaba reported triple-digit growth in AI-related products. Its cloud division also posted better-than-expected sales, making it the group’s fastest-growing unit.
By Luz Ding
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