Alibaba to Overhaul AI App, Rename to Qwen in Push to Match ChatGPT
According to Bloomberg, Alibaba is preparing a major overhaul of its flagship mobile AI application to more closely resemble OpenAI's ChatGPT, marking a significant push to compete with rivals and monetize consumer-facing artificial intelligence services.
The Chinese e-commerce giant plans to rebrand its existing "Tongyi" apps on iOS and Android as "Qwen," named after the company's AI model, according to people familiar with the matter. The revamp represents one of Alibaba's most substantial efforts to generate revenue from direct-to-consumer AI offerings.
Over the coming months, Alibaba will progressively integrate agentic-AI capabilities into the platform to facilitate shopping across its ecosystem, including its primary Taobao marketplace. The company's ultimate objective is to transform Qwen into a fully operational AI agent, with plans for an international version in the future.
Alibaba has assigned over 100 developers from across the organization to the project in recent months, part of expanded AI investments announced by Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu in September.
The initiative comes as Chinese technology companies intensify competition in the AI space. Startups like Minimax and ByteDance have released increasingly sophisticated AI models, each attempting to surpass industry leaders such as OpenAI and DeepSeek in performance metrics.
However, monetization remains challenging for many firms in China's AI sector. While companies have focused primarily on serving business clients with greater purchasing power, Chinese consumers have shown less willingness to pay for online services. Qwen currently trails ByteDance's Doubao and Tencent Yuanbao in user adoption.
By embedding shopping functionality, Alibaba aims to leverage its traditional e-commerce dominance to attract users. The revamped Qwen app will remain free for users initially, but establishing a substantial user base could enable Alibaba to charge for consumer services in the future.
The overhaul reflects broader industry ambitions in both the US and China to develop fully functional AI agents capable of performing complex tasks autonomously.