Alibaba's Qwen app is opening its ecosystem to third-party agents, with KFC, Luckin Coffee, Mixue Group, and China Eastern Airlines among the first to test the feature. Users can interact with these agents for services like ordering food or planning travel.
Alibaba Group Holding is integrating its flagship AI assistant Qwen into its biggest e-commerce platforms, betting that the future of online shopping lies in fluid conversations rather than rigid search terms. Using the Qwen app, shoppers are able to find, compare and purchase products from Taobao and Tmall’s 4-billion-item inventory via text or voice chat, Alibaba said in a statement on Monday. Taobao has also launched a Qwen-powered shopping assistant, which was trained on the platform’s...
Alibaba's Qwen app has partnered with China Eastern Airlines in its first external collaboration, enabling users to complete full flight booking processes – from search and seat selection to check-in – through a natural-language chat interface. The deal marks a significant expansion of Alibaba's agentic AI capabilities beyond its own ecosystem into real-world services, supporting the company's massive AI investment strategy. Alibaba pledged 380 billion yuan ($55.6 billion) to AI and cloud over three years in early 2025.
