Alibaba is Moving Faster Than Amazon and OpenAI in AI For Commerce

Last week, my colleague Qianer tested an AI agent inside Alibaba’s Qwen app, which resembles ChatGPT. She asked to get a ticket to see Pegasus 3, a comedy film about a race car driver that has been topping the Chinese box office. The agent found the nearest theater showing the movie and recommended seats and screening times for later in the day. Liu then authorized the booking. 

As OpenAI, Google and Amazon race to make AI that can help people buy things, China’s Alibaba is moving faster in showing how AI agents can evolve into personal shopping assistants.