Written by | Wu Xianzhi

Edited by | Wang Pan

On December 9, Sina Technology reported that Alibaba has formed the "Qianwen Consumer Business Group." This new entity emerged from the merger and reorganization of the former Intelligent Information and Intelligent Connectivity business groups, with Wu Jia, Alibaba Group's Vice President, at the helm. The group's portfolio includes the Qianwen APP, Kuake, AI hardware, UC, Shuqi, and more.

A day later, Qianwen, which had been in public beta for 23 days, announced on its official WeChat account that its monthly active users had exceeded 30 million. Additionally, it unveiled four new productivity features: AI PPT, AI Writing, AI Library, and AI Problem Explanation.

The Qianwen APP, a personal AI assistant built on Alibaba's proprietary Qwen model, is positioned as Alibaba's flagship product in the global AI application race, directly competing with ChatGPT.

Alibaba's organizational restructuring over the past year has been geared towards refining two consumer-centric systems: one is the large-scale consumption ecosystem, encompassing Taobao's e-commerce operations and its extended businesses; the other is the AI intelligent gateway line, centered around Qianwen and its integrated full-scenario AI productivity platform.

While these two lines may appear distinct—one for transactional scenarios and the other for intelligent services—they constitute Alibaba's two foundational pillars for the next decade. Alibaba's recent strategic moves revolve around these dual pillars.

As early as 2024, Joe Tsai and Eddie Wu outlined Alibaba's ambitious AI roadmap in their first joint letter to shareholders.

The letter underscored Alibaba's commitment to exploring the future of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and its continued investment in advancing machine intelligence. As a cloud computing provider, Alibaba aims to meet the computational demands spurred by the large model boom, fostering direct and positive growth for its cloud services. Moreover, Alibaba anticipates breakthroughs in scenarios and applications driven by AI, stating, "We are excited about the infinite possibilities of AI driving our 'user-first' strategy."

Today, a year later, under Alibaba's AI-to-Consumer (AI to C) strategy, Qianwen has assumed the pivotal role of developing and establishing a super AI gateway.

From Chatting to Task Completion

After surpassing 30 million monthly active users, the Qianwen APP has introduced four new features centered on "practical utility."

These features can be broadly categorized into two groups. The first includes AI PPT and AI Writing, which enhance productivity in knowledge-intensive tasks. The second consists of AI Library and AI Problem Explanation, targeting education and knowledge services. This marks a strategic pivot for Qianwen and Alibaba's AI from pursuing general "chat" capabilities to solving task-oriented problems in specific scenarios.

AI PPT is a staple in office environments, where users often face two key challenges: finding suitable PPT templates and the complexity of creating and modifying presentations.

Qianwen has long invested in the PPT domain, amassing a library of over 100,000 templates and more than 10 million related resources. It has also assembled a team of over 100 professionals for template design and invested in leading domestic PPT template design firms.

Leveraging these resources, the latest Qianwen update introduces a unified portal that eliminates barriers between formats and modalities. It integrates PPT generation, intelligent template matching, and online editing into a seamless solution, enabling users to input natural language and directly receive polished content.

AI Writing adopts a similar approach, emphasizing "conversation as creation, turning a sentence into a draft." Qianwen serves as a unified "conversion interface," automatically standardizing text formats, leveraging creative capabilities for one-click polishing and formatting, and ultimately delivering content in any desired format.

According to Photon Planet, the Qianwen team has a dedicated learning product development team. AI Problem Explanation and AI Library represent two facets of educational products. Whether through photo-based question searching or AI-powered tutoring, both rely on a robust question bank. The two newly updated features in the education domain effectively streamline the entire tutoring process.

With the support of AI Library, the accuracy of photo-based question searching can be further enhanced. After providing step-by-step explanations, the system can offer targeted, adaptive learning reinforcement based on the student's performance, ultimately creating personalized teaching plans.

From these updates, it is evident that Qianwen is strategically targeting high-frequency scenarios, aligning with its vision as a "super gateway." However, a super gateway must not only attract traffic but also retain users.

By deepening its feature set and pursuing a premium development path, Qianwen may be shifting the gateway competition from mere traffic acquisition to fostering user loyalty and habits. While this process may appear gradual, its impact is more sustainable and enduring.

Alibaba's AI-to-Consumer Cultivation Strategy

The day before Qianwen APP's monthly active users surpassed 30 million, Alibaba consolidated Kuake, UC, Shuqi, Qianwen APP, and AI hardware businesses under the Qianwen Consumer Business Group. This strategy mirrors its earlier integration of Ele.me, Fliggy, and Taobao Flash Sales—internal consolidation to bolster consumer-facing capabilities across e-commerce, cloud, and AI.

Integrating businesses like Ele.me and Fliggy into Taobao Flash Sales extended the reach of Taobao's e-commerce ecosystem, enabling seamless integration of online and offline shopping experiences. "Taobao Flash Sales can not only enhance frequency and replicate e-commerce operational capabilities like competitors but also drive e-commerce growth, which is an advantage no other peer can match," said an industry insider.

The large-scale consumption ecosystem relies on the fusion of online and offline channels and cross-selling, transforming Taobao into a comprehensive transaction platform. In contrast, AI's traction stems more from the backend, where the massive consumption of tokens for inference and the convergence of basic AI functionalities drive the launch of Qianwen as the core frontend.

Thus, the integration of the Qianwen Consumer Business Group effectively combines multiple high-quality AI-to-Consumer assets within Alibaba's ecosystem.

A subtle yet consistent thread runs through Alibaba's AI-to-Consumer advancement. In March of this year, Kuake's significant iteration hinted at a narrative of consolidating consumer-facing gateways, such as integrating an All-in-One "AI Super Frame" on PC and ensuring the latest Qwen series model achievements would be promptly incorporated.

Since then, Alibaba has continued to refine its strategy and prepare internally and externally for unifying consumer-facing gateways under Qianwen. A key reason is that among the businesses under the Intelligent Information Business Group, Kuake had already established a strong consumer-facing presence.

In 2016, Wu Jia led the incubation of the Kuake browser, initially focusing on efficiency and an ad-free experience, precisely targeting a niche of users seeking minimalist interactions. After a period of user growth, Kuake began integrating functional applications for various niche scenarios, such as cloud storage, college entrance exam volunteer application guidance, scanning, and more, evolving from a search engine to a tool and eventually a toolbox.

The accumulation of highly practical features that super apps often overlook or deem less profitable has allowed Kuake to steadily build its fortress. By this year, Kuake's daily active users reached approximately 34.298 million, with monthly active users nearing 150 million, placing it in the first tier of domestic AI applications.

Today, while Alibaba has chosen to launch the AI-native application Qianwen APP, the "practical" experience accumulated by Kuake over nearly a decade can also empower Qianwen APP. This is evident in Qianwen APP's newly launched features, such as the new AI Problem Explanation function, which extends Kuake's AI-powered question searching.

Kuake has infused Qianwen with a consumer-facing "practical" gene, while Kuake AI Glasses materialize this abstract "practicality" and serve as a concentrated release point for Alibaba's ecosystem and high-frequency functionalities. Kuake AI Glasses currently offer 16 high-frequency functions, including navigation, payment, price recognition, music, Q&A, and calls, strongly aligning with Qianwen's emphasis on "immediate usability."

Office and Learning: Just the Beginning

Achieving 30 million monthly active users within 23 days of Qianwen APP's launch reflects not only user growth but also requires assessment through two lenses: the current state of domestic AI industry development and Alibaba's strategic transformation.

The 30 million monthly active users highlight a significant demand gap in the domestic market for high-quality, accessible AI applications like ChatGPT. Qianwen's rapid breakthrough in monthly active users underscores the market's authenticity and universality.

On the other hand, after two years of building momentum, Alibaba's AI strategy has laid the foundation for transitioning from "technological reserves" to "value realization." The four newly introduced features indicate that Alibaba's AI strategic focus is shifting from "capable of chatting" to solving vertical scenario-based problems "capable of getting things done."

AI PPT and AI Writing directly enhance productivity in knowledge-intensive tasks. Qianwen is not merely reshaping office tools but also delving into the reconstruction of production relationships. AI Library and AI Problem Explanation target education and knowledge services, lowering barriers to information access and providing personalized tutoring, enabling equal access to social public services for all individuals.

Qianwen's rapid breakthroughs largely stem from Alibaba's long-term investment in building full-stack capabilities, cultivating Qwen, the world's strongest open-source model. Backed by this powerful model, Qianwen can currently support high-quality office and learning tasks.

It is foreseeable that office and learning are just the starting points for future iterations. Qianwen's foray into "task completion" will inevitably expand step by step to all scenarios within Alibaba's ecosystem.

From map navigation and travel planning to lifestyle services involved in near-field e-commerce, then to shopping decisions on Taobao's e-commerce platform, and even to business travel arrangements on Fliggy. These Alibaba scenarios serve as a fertile ground, continuously expanding Qianwen's coverage while also pushing the boundaries of the aforementioned businesses.