Alibaba Launches Advanced Qwen AI Chatbot, Targeting Consumer Market

BEIJING, November 18, 2025 – Alibaba Group (9988.HK) has announced a major upgrade to its Qwen AI chatbot, signaling a strong push into the consumer artificial intelligence (AI) market, where the company has historically lagged behind competitors.

The upgraded Qwen app, powered by the latest iteration of Alibaba’s Qwen large language model (LLM), is now available in China as both a mobile application and a web platform, with an international version planned for future release. According to Alibaba, the AI assistant can perform sophisticated tasks, such as:

• Generating comprehensive research reports from a single command
• Automatically producing multi-slide PowerPoint presentations in seconds

The app has entered public beta testing and is being promoted as “the best personal AI assistant with the most powerful model.”

Strategic Shift Towards Consumer AI

This launch marks a significant strategic pivot for Alibaba, which had previously concentrated on enterprise-focused AI services through its Alibaba Cloud offerings. While the company has experimented with consumer AI apps such as Tongyi—the predecessor of Qwen—and AI assistants integrated into its Quark browser, none of these products achieved significant adoption.

The Tongyi app, despite being one of the first Chinese consumer AI apps released in late 2023, had only 6.96 million monthly active users in September 2025. In comparison, market leaders like ByteDance’s Doubao boast 150 million monthly active users, DeepSeek has 73.4 million, and Tencent follows with 64.2 million.

Alibaba’s renewed push comes amid an increasingly competitive AI landscape in China, driven by a price war initiated by DeepSeek, which has emphasized low-cost AI compute and accessible app development. This environment has pressured competitors to ramp up investments in consumer AI.

Implications for Alibaba and the AI Market

The Qwen upgrade positions Alibaba to compete more directly with major Chinese AI players and potentially expand internationally. By integrating powerful LLM capabilities into a consumer-friendly app, Alibaba aims to increase adoption and solidify its presence in both domestic and global AI markets.

Analysts note that this strategic expansion reflects a broader trend among Chinese tech giants to democratize AI, moving beyond enterprise solutions to consumer-facing tools capable of enhancing productivity, content creation, and research.

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Key Takeaways

• Alibaba launches upgraded Qwen AI chatbot, expanding into the consumer AI market.
• Qwen can generate research reports and presentations instantly.
• The app is in public beta in China, with international rollout planned.
• Tongyi app predecessor had 6.96 million monthly active users, lagging behind ByteDance, DeepSeek, and Tencent.
• The move reflects a strategic shift from enterprise to consumer AI services amid intense competition in China.