Alibaba Introduces New Generative AI to Be Incorporated into Apps

Alibaba introduced its new generative AI model that the company plans to integrate into all of its apps in the near future.  

Tongyi Qianwen, which translates to “truth from a thousand questions,” was unveiled by the tech giant through a filmed demonstration where it drafted letters, planned itineraries, told children’s stories and gave shoppers shopping suggestions.  

The AI model will initially be added into Alibaba’s workplace messaging app DingTalk, where it can help users summarize meeting notes, write emails and draft proposals. Later on, the AI tool will also be added into Tmall Genie, the company’s very own voice assistant smart speaker, among others. 

Alibaba’s cloud unit has also opened registrations to clients interested in building their own large language models (LLM) using Tongyi Qianwen.  

In the livestream event, Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang said the technology “will bring about big changes to the way we produce, the way we work and the way we live our lives.”  

Tongyi Qianwen along with other leading AI models are “the big picture for making AI more popular in the future,” the CEO explained.  

“We are at a technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing, and businesses across all sectors have started to embrace intelligence transformation to stay ahead of the game,” Zhang added. 

Alibaba’s launch comes after Hong Kong-based AI company SenseTime launched a suite of AI products including its own chatbot “SenseChat,” as well as a new image generator.