Alibaba's Qwen AI chatbot crashes under demand as $433M campaign hits technical snags

Alibaba's overloaded AI chatbot stops issuing coupons, asks shoppers for patience

BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Alibaba's (9988.HK), opens new tab artificial intelligence chatbot Qwen has temporarily stopped issuing coupons due to customer overload, hampering a new campaign to promote the tool's capabilities beyond simply answering questions to assist shopping. Qwen began offering coupons to users on Friday that allow for in-app purchases from Alibaba-owned retail platforms using chatbot prompts alone. The initiative is the first phase in a 3-billion-yuan ($433 million) plan to attract more users to the chatbot during China's annual Spring Festival holiday. Since last month, Alibaba has sought to make Qwen a one-stop shop where users can access its other apps directly in the chatbot and complete payments, much like Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab integrates its Gemini chatbot into apps like Maps. But the rollout of what the e-commerce giant calls the chatbot's Agentic AI strategy has been marred by technical difficulties since the start of the coupon giveaway. Alibaba said that 10 million orders were placed within the first nine hours of the campaign. And faced with an overwhelming flood of attempted orders over the weekend, Qwen announced on Sunday on its official Weibo channel that it was overloaded and pleaded for users to give the chatbot a break. Repeated purchase prompts on Monday generated different versions of a refusal, citing user oversubscription, Reuters checks showed. "Everyone's enthusiasm for experiencing AI shopping is too high! Currently there are too many participants in 'Qwen free order', we are working tirelessly to maintain the campaign's experience," replied Qwen to one of the purchase prompts on Monday. The chatbot added that shoppers would still have time to redeem their coupons, which will remain valid until February 28. Alibaba declined to comment further on the technical difficulties. ($1 = 6.9289 Chinese yuan renminbi) Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Joe Bavier Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Alibaba's overloaded AI chatbot stops issuing coupons, asks shoppers for patience

Since last month, Alibaba has sought to make Qwen a one-stop shop where users can access its other apps directly in the chatbot and complete payments, much like Google integrates its Gemini chatbot into apps like Maps. However, the rollout of what the ecommerce giant calls the chatbot's agentic AI strategy has been marred by technical difficulties since the start of the coupon giveaway. Alibaba's artificial intelligence chatbot Qwen has temporarily stopped issuing coupons due to customer overload, hampering a new campaign to promote ⁠the tool's capabilities beyond simply answering questions to assist shopping. Qwen began offering coupons to users on Friday that allow for in-app purchases from Alibaba-owned retail platforms using chatbot prompts alone. The initiative is the first phase in a 3-billion-yuan ($433 million) plan to attract more users to the chatbot during China's annual Spring Festival holiday. Since last month, Alibaba has sought to make Qwen a one-stop shop where users can access its other apps directly in the chatbot and complete payments, much like Google integrates its Gemini chatbot into apps like Maps. But the rollout of what the ecommerce giant calls the chatbot's agentic AI strategy has been marred by technical difficulties since the start of the coupon giveaway. Alibaba said that 10 million orders were placed within the first nine hours of the campaign. And faced with an overwhelming flood of attempted orders over the weekend, Qwen announced on Sunday on its official Weibo channel that it was overloaded and pleaded for users to give the chatbot a break. Repeated purchase prompts on Monday generated different versions of a refusal, citing user oversubscription, Reuters checks showed. "Everyone's enthusiasm ⁠for experiencing AI ⁠shopping is too high! Currently there are too many participants in 'Qwen free order', we are working tirelessly to maintain the campaign's experience," replied Qwen to one of the purchase prompts on Monday. The chatbot added that shoppers would still have time to redeem their coupons, which will remain valid until February 28. Alibaba declined to comment further on the technical difficulties. ($1 = 6.9289 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Alibaba's Qwen Chatbot Halts Coupons Amid Customer Overload | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The issue with the Chinese tech giant's Qwen chatbot has marred the company's campaign to promote the tool's abilities beyond answering questions, Reuters reported Monday (Feb. 9). According to the report, the artificial intelligence chatbot last week began offering coupons to customers allowing for in-app purchases from Alibaba-owned retailers using chatbot prompts alone. The program is ⁠the first stage in a 3-billion-yuan ($433 million) initiative to attract more users to the chatbot during China's yearly Spring Festival holiday. Since last month, Reuters noted, Alibaba has tried to turn Qwen into a hub that lets users access the company's other apps through the chatbot and make payments, similar to the way Google has integrated its Gemini chatbot into its apps. However, the report said, this strategy has been held up by technical troubles since the coupon giveaway began. Alibaba said 10 million orders were placed within the first nine hours of the campaign. A surge of order attempts this weekend led the chatbot to announce that it was overloaded. Reuters says its checks showed that repeated purchase prompt Monday showed different versions of a refusal, down to oversubscription. Qwen has told customers that they'll still have time to redeem their coupons, which are valid until Feb. 28. Consumers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to shop, research from PYMNTS Intelligence has found. According to a report titled "Consumers Stop Sampling AI and Start Relying on It," this shift applies to one third of "mainstream" AI users. It's a trend that extends into shopping and purchasing, with nearly half of so-called "power users" saying they have replaced their old approaches with AI-driven alternatives, an increase from the 39% who said the same thing a month earlier. The same pattern could be seen among mainstream users, from 22% to 32%. "What this reveals is that growth among adopters is driven less by new users coming on board and more by a deeper integration of AI into the everyday workflows of people already using it," the report said. "Power users aren't just using AI more frequently; they're making it the default. Light users, by contrast, continue to treat conversational AI as an occasional or supplementary tool rather than as a primary channel."

Alibaba's overloaded AI chatbot stops issuing coupons, asks shoppers for patience

BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Alibaba's artificial intelligence chatbot Qwen has temporarily stopped issuing coupons due to customer overload, hampering a new campaign to promote the tool's capabilities beyond simply answering questions to assist shopping. Qwen began offering coupons to users on Friday that allow for in-app purchases from Alibaba-owned retail platforms using chatbot prompts alone. The initiative is the first phase in a 3-billion-yuan ($433 million) plan to attract more users to the chatbot during China's annual Spring Festival holiday. Since last month, Alibaba has sought to make Qwen a one-stop shop where users can access its other apps directly in the chatbot and complete payments, much like Google integrates its Gemini chatbot into apps like Maps. But the rollout of what the e-commerce giant calls the chatbot's Agentic AI strategy has been marred by technical difficulties since the start of the coupon giveaway. Alibaba said that 10 million orders were placed within the first nine hours of the campaign. And faced with an overwhelming flood of attempted orders over the weekend, Qwen announced on Sunday on its official Weibo channel that it was overloaded and pleaded for users to give the chatbot a break. Repeated purchase prompts on Monday generated different versions of a refusal, citing user oversubscription, Reuters checks showed. "Everyone's enthusiasm for experiencing AI shopping is too high! Currently there are too many participants in 'Qwen free order', we are working tirelessly to maintain the campaign's experience," replied Qwen to one of the purchase prompts on Monday. The chatbot added that shoppers would still have time to redeem their coupons, which will remain valid until February 28. Alibaba declined to comment further on the technical difficulties. (Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Joe Bavier)