Alibaba's Qwen App now orders food and books travel as AI shifts from understanding to action

Alibaba Transforms Qwen App Into Action-Oriented AI Assistant

Alibaba has launched significant upgrades to its Qwen App, enabling the artificial intelligence platform to execute tasks such as order food delivery and make travel bookings entirely within the AI chat interface1

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. The new features, now in public testing in China, allow users to complete transactions without switching between applications, marking a strategic shift into consumer-facing AI3

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"What we are launching today represents a shift from models that understand to systems that act -- deeply connected to real-world services," said Wu Jia, Vice President of Alibaba Group. This transformation reflects the growing trend toward agentic AI, where systems perform real-world tasks on behalf of users with limited supervision2

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Integration with Alibaba's Ecosystem Powers Seamless Transactions

The upgrade integrates core Alibaba ecosystem services including e-commerce platform Taobao, instant commerce, payment system Alipay, travel service Fliggy, and mapping platform Amap into a unified AI interface1

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. Through Taobao Instant Commerce, users can place food and beverage orders, apply promotions, and complete payments4

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. The Fliggy integration allows the app to design travel itineraries, compare options, and complete bookings.

By integrating Alipay with the Qwen App, users can authorize and complete in-chat payments without leaving the conversation4

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. The AI payment feature currently supports instant commerce orders and will expand to additional ecosystem services over time1

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. Each end-to-end action can be initiated by a single voice or text request from the user4

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Task Assistant Feature Expands Capabilities Beyond Simple Commands

Alibaba also unveiled a Task Assistant feature in invite-only beta that can make real phone calls to restaurants, process up to 100 documents simultaneously, and plan multi-stop travel itineraries1

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. This positions the app as an intelligent assistant capable of handling complex, multi-step tasks that previously required manual intervention across multiple platforms.

Rapid User Growth Signals Market Demand for Agentic Commerce

Since its public beta launch on November 17, Qwen App has surpassed 100 million monthly active users within two months. Powered by Alibaba's Qwen3 foundation model, this rapid adoption demonstrates strong demand for AI applications that can perform real-world tasks.

The upgrade comes two months after Alibaba's major update to the Qwen App as part of a strategic pivot into consumer-facing AI, an area where it had previously lagged domestic rivals ByteDance and Tencent while focusing primarily on enterprise AI services through its cloud business1

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China's AI Sector Embraces Agentic Commerce as Competitive Frontier

China's technology giants are entering a new phase of the artificial intelligence race called agentic commerce, as firms race to turn chatbots into full-service shopping and payment tools2

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. "The agentic transformation of commercial services enables the maximal integration of user services [and] enhances user stickiness," said Shaochen Wang, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research, referring to stronger long-term user engagement2

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Alibaba is well-positioned to pioneer agentic commerce due to its advanced language models capabilities and extensive e-commerce network covering clothing, food, housing, and transportation2

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. The expansion reflects broader competition in China's AI sector, where companies are racing to translate advanced language models into practical consumer applications1

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Globally, AI agents are growing in popularity as companies seek to use AI to aid real-world tasks. Meta Platforms acquired startup Manus last month to improve its AI systems that can complete multi-step tasks, while OpenAI has rolled out its "Operator" agent that can book restaurants and fill out forms on behalf of users1

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. Alibaba had invested over $14 billion in AI infrastructure and research, with plans to spend $53.42 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure over the next three years4

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