Alibaba's Qwen & Taobao: AI Shopping's New Era

Alibaba has fully integrated Qwen and Taobao, allowing users to select products, compare options, and make purchases through conversations with the Qwen app. Taobao has also launched a Qwen-powered shopping assistant. This follows years of tech giants testing AI in shopping. Amazon's Rufus shopping assistant reportedly accumulated over 250 million users and is expected to bring significant additional sales. Google also announced AI shopping features in Gemini through partnerships with major retailers. However, OpenAI launched and then abandoned its ChatGPT "Instant Checkout" feature. The idea of AI buying things for users has been around for decades, appearing in science fiction and early visions for devices like Amazon Echo. But real-world progress has been slow. The first phase involved voice assistants from 2014 to 2018, handling only simple repeat purchases. The second phase, around 2018, saw conversational commerce tools focus on after-sales customer service. The current third phase, driven by large models, has made user intent understandable to AI for the first time. This technical leap has reignited the sector. The integration of Qwen and Taobao makes AI an agent in the core transaction process, understanding user needs. This development could change how you shop online.