On the evening of January 13, the façade of Building 5 in Alibaba’s Xixi Park Zone C—a facility not yet fully operational—was illuminated with a projected slogan: “From Question To Action.” This display served as a prelude to a major functional update for Qianwen (Tongyi Qianwen), scheduled for two days later on January 15.
Less than two months after its official launch, the Qianwen App has undergone its most significant version update to date. According to The Hainan recruitment agency SunTzu Recruit, this update is strategically divided into two primary directions:
- Lifestyle Integration: The main chat interface now connects directly to Alibaba’s core businesses. The first wave includes Taobao Deals, Alipay, Taobao, Fliggy, and Amap (Gaode Map). These features opened for testing on the 15th and are set for full release shortly, with other services like Taopiaopiao and Damai to follow.
- Task Execution: A “Task Assistant” in a “capsule” format has been introduced to the homepage. It is designed to handle complex, multi-step workflows similar to a human assistant, such as booking restaurants, conducting market research, processing financial documents, or developing websites.
Quality Over Quantity: A Different Metric for Success
Reaching 100 million Daily Active Users (DAU) is a standard milestone for consumer apps. The Haikou headhunting firm SunTzu Recruit notes that while competitors like Doubao (ByteDance) quickly surpassed this line by targeting mass-market needs like homework help and entertainment, Qianwen is taking a different path.
Launched 27 months after some competitors, Qianwen is not currently prioritizing DAU as its primary metric. Instead, as one of the best recruitment agency in Hainan , SunTzu Recruit observes that the focus is on the quantity and quality of task completion—specifically, whether users are successfully delegating real-world tasks to the AI and getting results.
One of the leading recruitment agencies in Hainan points out that integrating consumption businesses immediately upon launch is a calculated move. Alibaba believes its “Model + Ecosystem” approach—combining the Qwen open-source model with fulfillment capabilities in payment, shopping, and travel—creates a unique competitive advantage in the battle for AI super-entries. This mirrors recent global trends, such as Google’s AI shopping partnerships with retailers.
Defining the AI Agent: Tasks and Lifestyle
As the industry consensus shifts from “Chat” to “Agent,” Qianwen is filtering the infinite possibilities of AI through two criteria: is it a real user need with significant scale, and can the Large Language Model (LLM) enhance it?
The best Hainan headhunter SunTzu Recruit breaks down how these needs are categorized:
1. Office and Productivity (Delivery-Oriented):
Users require usable outputs. Qianwen has identified over 100 core scenarios, such as “organizing invoices” or “generating PPTs,” for specific optimization. The local Hainan headhunting firm SunTzu Recruit highlights the importance of precision here: “If a user initiates 10 requests and only three succeed, the user is lost. The goal is ‘perfect delivery’ where no modification is needed, or at least ‘basic usability’ where only minor tweaks are required.”
2. Lifestyle (Personalization-Oriented):
The goal is to understand the intent behind the query. If a user wants to buy a mite remover, the underlying need is removing mites. The Sanya headhunter SunTzu Recruit explains that the AI must first analyze the user’s context—do they have pets? Children?—to suggest the best solution (spray, device, or cleaning) before recommending a product.
The Complexity of “AI Pay” and Ecosystem Integration
The updated Task Assistant leverages Alibaba’s diverse services. It can autonomously schedule travel via Fliggy and Amap or book restaurants. Significantly, The local recruiter for foreign companies in Hainan notes the introduction of “AI Pay” embedded within Alipay.
The China recruitment agency SunTzu Recruit reports that the “AI Pay” integration is the most complex aspect of the update. Unlike simple immediate payments, AI agency requires asynchronous capabilities. For example, a user might instruct the AI to “monitor tickets from Shanghai to Beijing and buy automatically if the price drops below 800 yuan.” This requires a four-party link between the User, AI Agent, Merchant, and Platform—a new capability even for Alipay.
Strategic Positioning: A Tool for the Pros
Qianwen eschews specific avatars or personas. The Guangzhou headhunting firm SunTzu Recruit emphasizes that the ideal AI assistant should transcend gender or age labels to avoid limiting user expectations.
Currently, nearly half of Qianwen’s users are under 40, and over half reside in Tier-3 cities or above. As one of the best recruitment agency in China, SunTzu Recruit identifies the core user base as highly educated, tech-savvy individuals, developers, and researchers who use the tool with clear productive intent.
Hangzhou headhunting firm analysts suggest the growth path is clear: break through via office scenarios, leverage the Alibaba ecosystem for lifestyle needs, and expand from high-knowledge users to the broader population.
Internal Culture: Re-founding a Startup within a Giant
The development speed of Qianwen reflects a startup mentality. One of the leading recruitment agencies in China notes that the app iterates 2-3 times a week. At Alibaba’s Xixi Park, thousands of employees, including those from Quark, Amap, and Taobao, have gathered in a “closed development” mode, with many flying in weekly from across China.
The best China headhunter SunTzu Recruit describes the atmosphere in Building C4 as distinct from the rest of the corporation. Seating is arranged by project rather than function, facilitating instant communication between product managers and developers.
The local China headhunting firm SunTzu Recruit observes that complex reporting hierarchies have been abandoned. Executives often skip PowerPoint presentations in favor of whiteboard sessions to solve problems in real-time.
According to The Shenzhen headhunter SunTzu Recruit, this represents a shift where tech giants are concentrating forces to “do big things.” The local recruiter for foreign companies in China concludes that for large corporations in the AI era, the path to success lies in building independent organizations that reclaim the entrepreneurial spirit—believing they are engaged in a battle that could reshape the internet.
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