Jack Ma has always held high aspirations for Alipay.

It is for this reason that he chose to make his official comeback at Alipay's 20th anniversary celebration, reminiscing about the myriad innovations Alipay has spearheaded in mobile payments.

From mobile payments to Yu'E Bao to Ant Forest, Jack Ma knows Alipay's history intimately, demonstrating his consistent attention and great expectations for the platform.

Perhaps it is precisely because of these high expectations that Alipay constantly strives to play a unique role, proving its worth through various endeavors.

Whether it's Alipay's early forays into social media and live streaming or its later transition from a tool to a platform, even its AI-related initiatives, all reflect Alipay's desire to be more than just a payment service.

It must be said that Alipay's intentions are noble.

However, if actions are taken without a true understanding of the current market environment, they become mere blind attempts.

 Unfortunately, Alipay finds itself on such a path.

The repeated failures of Alipay's ventures into social media are undeniable.

Moreover, Alipay's shortcomings in content, community building, and new technology deployment are manifestations of its wishful thinking regarding innovation, completely disregarding its status as a payment tool. They also show a misguided approach to internet business, ignoring its role as a financial instrument.

To some extent, Alipay's repeated failures in "breaking out" are a reflection of its internal anxiety.

When Alipay becomes anxious, its rhythm is disrupted.

I

Currently, Alipay is grappling with this anxiety.

This anxiety manifests as Alipay's reluctance to remain solely a payment tool, aspiring instead to become a platform and a center.

Looking at the ever-growing number of applications on Alipay, its increasingly complex interface, frequently changing content, and relentless "+" additions, this aspiration is evident.

It's true that by enriching its functions and applications, Alipay can attract a certain amount of traffic and expand its scope to a degree.

However, if this growth comes at the expense of user experience and the platform's fundamental role as a payment tool, Alipay risks plunging into a state of chaos and anxiety.

One significant reason for Alipay's anxiety is the increasing competition it faces in the market.

Whether it's the relentless pursuit of WeChat Pay, the emergence of JD Pay as a new force, or the redivision of the payment market by Meituan Pay and Douyin Pay, Alipay's original sphere of influence and living space are being gradually eroded.

To maintain its market position, especially to break through the siege from both old and new players, Alipay's strategy has become disjointed.

For Alipay, accustomed to the thinking of the internet era, it does exhibit a certain degree of vigilance towards its competitors' escalating pressure.

It's understandable to respond to such vigilance.

Nevertheless, what Alipay should truly focus on is how to innovate and optimize its payment functions to adapt to current market demands, rather than merely reacting to the profound changes in the payment market with an internet-era mindset.

If nothing unforeseen happens, Alipay may temporarily alleviate its current predicament by relying on its previous methods.

However, when Alipay's internet-style approaches fail, especially when it misses out on the development dividends from the new wave of changes, it will inevitably encounter increasing difficulties in attempting to make new layouts.

Ultimately, Alipay cannot rely on old models and methods to cope with the new changes that have already occurred in the market.

Otherwise, Alipay will only follow in the footsteps of Alibaba's failed e-commerce ventures, truly finding itself in a more passive development situation.

II

While Alipay's adherence to traditional models and methods has trapped it in a self-imposed cocoon, it has also started to lag behind in the deployment of new technologies and models.

To illustrate this, Alipay's lack of focus in deploying AI is a direct manifestation of this phenomenon.

We all know that a new revolution led by AI is underway among various players.

Both internet players and traditional players are utilizing AI to reshape and transform themselves.

It can be said that AI is the key for both old and new players to regain new growth momentum.

In this process, we also witnessed Alipay's AI deployment, spending considerable resources to promote its AI initiatives during the European Championships.

It's true that by deploying AI and transforming its product and service models, Alipay can indeed gain new momentum for its development.

However, what we need to recognize is that, unlike the internet, whose primary efficiency lies in acquiring C-end traffic, AI's maximum efficiency is not only reflected in providing Alipay with a new traffic acquisition method but more importantly in empowering and transforming the industrial and supply ends.

It's undeniable that Alipay has made attempts to deploy AI. However, what we observe is that Alipay's AI-related endeavors are primarily focused on traffic acquisition, neglecting the deep empowerment and transformation of the industrial end triggered by AI deployment.

When Alipay fails to achieve self-upgrade and transformation through AI, especially when it fails to find a development model suited to the AI era, it also begins to lose its rhythm in seeking breakthroughs in AI development.

In my opinion, Alipay should not view AI as a mere tool for acquiring and increasing traffic stickiness but should let AI become a new way to incubate new payment methods and transform payment experiences.

When Alipay deploys AI from this perspective, it can innovate AI payments in the AI era, just as it innovated mobile payments in the internet era.

Otherwise, Alipay will only see AI as a means of acquiring traffic, missing out on the new development dividends brought by the AI era and unable to lead the way in AI payments as it did with mobile payments in the mobile internet era.

III

Whether it's Alipay's attempt to amass as many functions as possible onto its platform to build a large and comprehensive scale or its AI deployment aimed at acquiring C-end-dominated development models, they converge into a single ultimate goal.

That is, Alipay wants to establish a large platform and center.

It must be said that Alipay's ambition is vast, and it may indeed possess the strength to achieve it.

However, if it only possesses ambition and strength but ignores its fundamental role as a payment tool and the underlying nature of a financial application, then the ambition of becoming a large platform and center may not be sustainable.

So why does Alipay aspire to build a large platform and center?

Ultimately, Alipay wants to leverage the characteristics of finance and financial means to concentrate people's daily needs onto its platform, thereby achieving the goal of becoming a large platform and center.

However, benchmarking the development of financial players and the nature of finance, it's evident that the ultimate goal and destination of finance always land on the industrial end.

For Alipay, what it truly needs to do is find ways to empower the industrial end and supply chain, rather than blindly targeting the consumer end as the ultimate objective.

Only by doing so can Alipay maximize its financial potential and break free from the previous internet-era development model dominated by traffic and scale.

Ultimately, Alipay still aims to use the concept of a large platform and center to conduct the "tap water" business, but it does not truly aspire to achieve the deep empowerment of industries, akin to becoming the "water, electricity, and coal" of industrial development.

When an entity with financial characteristics like Alipay lacks the support and integration of the real industry, it lacks a solid foundation for development.

Even if Alipay can attract huge traffic by establishing a large platform and center, its development will still falter when such traffic lacks feedback and support from the industrial end.

Conclusion

Throughout, Jack Ma has held high aspirations for Alipay.

However, while these expectations have fueled Alipay's growth, they have also instilled a deep sense of anxiety in its development.

This anxiety is reflected not only in Alipay's obsession with previous development models but also in its misunderstanding of new technologies and models such as AI.

Faced with the division of its original sphere of influence by old and new competitors and the immense responsibilities it bears, anxious Alipay has lost its rhythm.

When Alipay falls into deep anxiety, what it truly needs may no longer be to rush ahead but to rekindle the mindset it had when it created mobile payments, Yu'E Bao, and Ant Forest.