Alibaba launches free Qwen AI app in challenge to ChatGPT

by PENG Peng

Alibaba has released a free public beta of its Qwen AI assistant app, moving directly into competition with ChatGPT as it prepares to link a wide range of dAIly services to the platform.

The company said on November 17 that the app, built on its open-source Qwen large language model family, is now available across major app stores as well as on web and PC. Alibaba plans to integrate maps, food delivery, ticketing, office tools, education, shopping and health services, aiming to make Qwen a central entry point for consumers.

The launch marks Alibaba's most aggressive consumer-facing move in artificial intelligence. Executives have described Qwen as the company's "future-era battle," arguing that AI assistants must evolve from simple conversational tools into task-oriented agents capable of handling daily errands.

The rollout comes days after OpenAI unveiled its new GPT-5.1 series, part of a rapid update cycle following user complaints that the earlier GPT-5 model lacked warmth and creativity.

Alibaba has spent the past year focusing on enterprise customers through Alibaba Cloud, offering API-based access to its models. Backed by Qwen's rising benchmark performance—its preview model recently surpassed GPT-5-Chat on the LMArena text leaderboard—the company now sees conditions as favorable for a full consumer push.

The Qwen launch follows Alibaba's pledge to invest 380 billion yuan（about US$53 billion）in AI infrastructure. At its annual Yunqi Conference in September, CEO WU Yongming said large language models would serve as the next operating system, with cloud computing becoming the next-generation computer. Alibaba also announced a partnership with NVIDIA to develop Physical AI technologies ranging from synthetic data and simulation to reinforcement learning for robotics and autonomous systems.

Alibaba reported revenue of 247.65 billion yuan (about US$35 billion) for the quarter ended June 2025, up 10% from a year earlier after excluding divested units. Net profit rose 76% to 42.38 billion yuan, beating market expectations. The company said the consumer rollout of Qwen builds on these investments and marks a key step in its broader AI strategy.