Alibaba Group Holding’s international wholesale marketplace, Alibaba.com, is targeting 100% AI adoption among its merchants by the end of this year. This initiative is part of the e-commerce giant’s broader strategy to expand its global reach, with significant investment in artificial intelligence.
Zhang Kuo, president of Alibaba.com, shared these expectations in an interview with the South China Morning Post. He noted that over half of the platform’s approximately 200,000 merchants were already actively utilizing AI applications on a weekly basis.
The AI tools, introduced in early 2024, are designed to assist sellers with various aspects of their business including marketing, product management, customer engagement, and risk control. These improvements are intended to enhance Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce operations.
“I believe that by the end of this year, [the adoption rate] should be 100 per cent,” Zhang stated. He further explained, “In the end, when they feel that these parts are easier to manage and [the AI agents] provide better performance … those parts should be taken care of by AI.” Alibaba owns the Post.
Zhang expressed confidence in the initiative’s potential, noting the platform’s shift towards cloud computing and AI. This strategic focus aligns with Alibaba’s commitment to invest at least 380 billion yuan (US$52 billion) over the next three years to enhance its infrastructure related to these technologies. This investment marks the largest computing project undertaken by a single private business in China.
