Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is making a stronger push into consumer artificial intelligence by launching a significant upgrade to its chatbot, aiming to catch up with rivals after falling behind in the fast-growing market. The company, which released a free mobile and web app in China based on its most advanced Qwen language model, said an international version is coming soon.
Now users can ask the chatbot to create complete research reports and multi-slide PowerPoint presentations instantly. The Qwen App is promoting itself as a powerful personal AI assistant in public beta, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
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The $376 billion Alibaba AI endeavor helped it gain 87% in stock value year to date.
However, Alibaba also grappled with intense rivalry and steep price cuts in China's AI industry, especially after low-cost rival DeepSeek sparked a price war.
Alibaba has offered consumer AI tools before, including the older Tongyi app and AI features in its Quark browser, but they made limited traction. Tongyi had just under 7 million monthly active users in September, far behind leaders like ByteDance's Doubao and DeepSeek, each with tens of millions more users.
Analysts say Alibaba's new AI app, Qwen, could become China's version of a "super-app" for the AI era—much like Tencent Holding Ltd’s (OTC:TCEHY) WeChat transformed the smartphone era. Boosted by Alibaba Cloud's homegrown Qwen AI models, the consumer app quickly jumped into the top five free apps on Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) store in both Hong Kong and mainland China during its second day of beta testing.
Alibaba pitches Qwen as an all-in-one personal AI assistant that can handle work and everyday tasks, from in-depth research to creating images and slides. The company wants Qwen to evolve beyond a chatbot into an "everything app" that changes how people interact with digital services, Beijing-based tech analyst Poe Zhao told SCMP.
Alibaba has a significant advantage: its massive ecosystem already spans shopping, payments, food delivery, mapping, and entertainment.
Alibaba plans to roll out Qwen globally and directly compete with ChatGPT to define the future "everything app."
"If Alibaba executes well, Qwen could set the standard for AI-powered apps—not just in China, but worldwide," Zhao said.
BABA Price Action: Alibaba Group Holding shares were up 0.12% at $157.91 at the time of publication on Tuesday.
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