New service to support local SMEs, startups entering global market Shawn Yang, general manager for the Asia-Pacific region at Alibaba.com, speaks in a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. (Alibaba.com) Alibaba.com on Thursday launched Accio Work, an AI-powered autonomous business service, in Korea to support small and medium-sized enterprises.According to Alibaba.com, Accio Work offers a cross-functional squad of artificial intelligence agents that can handle all steps of running a business, including market analysis, product planning, sourcing, price negotiation, product registration, marketing and store operation.“Accio Work was developed to help SMEs and entrepreneurs enter the global market and run their businesses well based on operational capabilities on par with bigger companies,” said Shawn Yang, Alibaba.com’s general manager for the Asia-Pacific region, during a press conference in Seoul.Alibaba.com highlighted that Accio Work brings a new level of automation to ease various operational burdens of SMEs and startups, as it can deploy a customizable fleet of AI agents to manage value-added tax filings, tax refunds and customs documentation while overseeing logistics.As of May, the number of Korean exporters newly registered on Alibaba.com increased by 18 percent from last year, according to the company. The number of inquiries from global buyers about Korean sellers jumped 128 percent during the same span, indicating more international demand for Korean products.“Accio Work is focused on creating a plug-and-play AI team that can conduct work-related tasks more easily and quickly, execute them in a sharper manner and operate business more smartly,” said James Zhang, Alibaba.com’s head of global seller product and services.“In this way, we expect to transform the way smaller enterprises compete on the global stage by allowing companies to do business faster, make wiser decisions and set up a 24-hour operational structure.”Meanwhile, Alibaba.com unveiled a Korean part of CoCreate Pitch 2026, an Accio Work-based AI startup competition with a total prize pool of 200 million won ($133,000). The Korean contest will be divided into general SMEs, startups and students.