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China’s technology giants are entering a new phase of the artificial intelligence race called ‘agentic commerce,’ as firms such as Alibaba and ByteDance race to turn chatbots into full-service shopping and payment tools.
Alibaba last week updated its Qwen AI chatbot, allowing users to complete transactions directly within the interface, including ordering food and booking air tickets.
The upgrade connects Qwen to Alibaba’s broader e-commerce ecosystem, allowing users to compare tailored product recommendations from platforms such as Taobao or its travel site Fliggy, before finally completing payments through Alipay, all without leaving the chatbot.
Previously, Qwen could make recommendations based on user-generated prompts, but users still had to manually navigate multiple platforms to make purchases.
