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Alibaba Turns Qwen Into an AI Agent for Orders, Bookings and Payments in China

Deep integration with Alipay and key Alibaba services lets the app finish consumer tasks inside a single chat.

Overview

  • New features now in public testing in China allow users to order food, book travel and pay within the Qwen chat interface without switching apps.
  • Alipay is embedded for in-chat authorization and checkout, with full transactions currently focused on instant commerce and food delivery and broader categories to follow, Alibaba said.
  • An invite-only Task Assistant beta can place real phone calls, process up to 100 documents at once and plan multi-stop travel itineraries.
  • Qwen has surpassed 100 million monthly active users roughly two months after its public beta launch, according to Alibaba vice-president Wu Jia.
  • The expansion, powered by the Qwen3 foundation model, signals a consumer pivot for Alibaba and tracks a wider move toward agentic AI noted alongside efforts by Meta and OpenAI.