Alibaba Expands Qwen AI Ecosystem for Third Party Brand Agents
- tech360.tv
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Alibaba Group Holding is opening its Qwen artificial intelligence assistant ecosystem to third-party partners' agents. The company aims to turn Qwen from a chatbot into a digital concierge for everyday life.
Fast-food giant KFC, tech-driven coffee chain Luckin Coffee, beverage chain Mixue Group, and China Eastern Airlines are among the first companies to test their agentic features on the application. Users can tell Qwen to order a chicken burger at the nearest KFC for pickup. The agent will locate the closest store, automatically apply discount coupons, and calculate the pickup time.
Brands can customise their agents to provide services on Qwen through natural conversations. The agents can also proactively send reminders and recommendations before users make requests.
China Eastern Airlines' agent will be able to suggest tailored itineraries based on travel plans and preferences. Luckin Coffee's artificial intelligence could advise users to place orders in advance to avoid rush hours.
Fan Zhang leads the Qwen app ecosystem initiative. Zhang stated that the Qwen application now facilitates over 100 million daily engagements for lifestyle services, powered by dozens of integrated agents.
The roll-out marks an escalation in the artificial intelligence race among Chinese tech giants. These companies are betting heavily on agents to reshape how the country's population shops, works, and communicates.
Alibaba's main rival Tencent Holdings has promised an agent within WeChat. The WeChat agent will leverage its ecosystem of mini-programmes, content, commerce, social media, and payments.
The WeChat agent will execute multi-step tasks from hailing a taxi to booking a flight within a single chat interface. Tencent is reportedly on the verge of debuting the feature, with a prototype currently being tested.
Alibaba has already begun capitalising on its strength in e-commerce. The tech giant previously integrated agentic artificial intelligence into its flagship marketplace, Taobao. The integration allows the Qwen application to act as a personal shopper that helps users filter products, compare options, and complete purchases directly through the chatbot interface.
Alibaba Group Holding is opening its Qwen artificial intelligence assistant ecosystem to third-party partners.
Brands like KFC, Luckin Coffee, Mixue Group, and China Eastern Airlines are testing agentic features on the application.
The Qwen application currently facilitates over 100 million daily engagements for lifestyle services.
Source: SCMP
