Alibaba’s AI Assistant Quark Gains Popularity in China Amid AI Agent Competition

Alibaba Group Holding’s artificial intelligence assistant, Quark, is gaining traction on Chinese social media following positive reviews, positioning it as a potential "killer app" in the AI sector.

Credit: SCMP

Launched last Thursday, Quark has been revamped into an all-in-one AI assistant powered by Alibaba’s Qwen reasoning AI model. Previously, it functioned as an online search and cloud storage tool.

Charles Zhao Chaoyang, founder of Chinese internet portal Sohu, praised Quark’s capabilities in a Weibo post last Friday. He noted that the app automatically deploys different functions based on user intent, making it highly efficient. Zhao also tested Quark’s deep-thinking mode with cosmology-related questions and expressed satisfaction with its responses.

Shanghai-based user Jiang Ying has made Quark her default AI tool after reading discussions about it on Weibo. She highlighted its ability to generate text and images while also offering deep-thinking capabilities, which she said made it feel more "humanlike."

Other users have pointed out Quark’s simple interface, which resembles a traditional search engine, making AI more accessible for daily use. Since its launch, the app has trended on Weibo under "Quark AI," ranking as the platform’s ninth hottest topic.

Quark had over 200 million users before its transformation, providing Alibaba with a strong foundation to expand its presence in the consumer AI market. The company has not yet disclosed updated user numbers post-launch.

Alibaba’s Qwen series is already a leading open-source AI model. The latest reasoning model, QwQ-32B, unveiled earlier this month, has matched or outperformed DeepSeek’s R1 in areas such as mathematics, coding, and general problem-solving, according to the Qwen team.

Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming emphasised the potential of large AI models to enhance search, productivity, content creation, and workplace efficiency during the company’s earnings call in February.

Quark is also expected to complement Alibaba’s existing computing infrastructure. The company recently announced plans to invest at least 380 billion yuan (USD 52 billion) in cloud computing and AI infrastructure over the next three years, marking China’s largest-ever computing project funded by a private business.

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• Alibaba’s AI assistant Quark has gained popularity in China following its relaunch.

• Users praise its deep-thinking capabilities and simple interface.

• The app trended on Weibo, ranking as the ninth hottest topic.

Source: SCMP