The Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group had previously announced plans to launch an AI-powered “conversational sourcing engine” to facilitate the global B2B sourcing process for small- to medium-sized businesses. Alibaba is also using generative AI for tasks like translations for sellers, creating marketing materials, and handling customer disputes. The company's release of over 100 open-source AI models and text-to-video technology signals its growing focus on AI for digital commerce.
Key takeaways:
- Alibaba has reportedly launched an AI-powered search engine, Accio, designed to assist small businesses in Europe and the Americas in sourcing supplies.
- The search engine responds to text or image prompts to find wholesale products, and provides information about product popularity and projected profit.
- Accio uses Alibaba's large language model, Tongyi Qianwen, and sources data from 50 million businesses on Alibaba International's platform and publicly available information.
- Alibaba is increasingly focusing on AI for digital commerce, as evidenced by its release of over 100 open-source AI models and text-to-video technology, which could democratize access to advanced AI tools for small to medium-sized businesses.