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In its latest bid to dominate China’s next-generation digital gateway, Alibaba Group Holding is opening its Qwen AI assistant to major brands, allowing users to order everything from fried chicken to bubble tea through simple conversation.
The company announced on Wednesday that it was opening Qwen’s ecosystem to third-party partners’ agents.
Fast-food giant KFC, tech-driven coffee chain Luckin Coffee, beverage chain Mixue Group and China Eastern Airlines are among the first companies to test their agentic features on the app.
Users can simply tell Qwen to “order a chicken burger at the nearest KFC for pickup”, leaving the agent to locate the closest store, automatically apply discount coupons and calculate the pickup time.
These brands could customise their agents to provide services on Qwen through natural conversations, and could also proactively send reminders and recommendations before users make requests, according to Alibaba.
For instance, China Eastern Airlines’ agent would be able to suggest tailored itineraries based on users’ travel plans and preferences, while Luckin Coffee’s AI could advise users to place orders in advance to avoid rush hours, according to Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post.
“Qwen app now facilitates over 100 million daily engagements for lifestyle services, powered by dozens of integrated agents,” Fan Zhang, who leads the Qwen app ecosystem initiative, said in the announcement.
“The goal is to share these capabilities – intent understanding, precise matching, and proactive planning – with enterprise partners across all industries. By opening the ecosystem, Qwen aims to provide every user with a truly versatile AI personal assistant.”

The roll-out marks an escalation in the AI race among Chinese tech giants, which are betting heavily on AI agents to reshape how the country’s 1.4 billion people shop, work and communicate.
Alibaba’s main rival Tencent Holdings has promised an agent within WeChat, leveraging its super app’s expansive ecosystem of mini-programmes, content, commerce, social media and payments.
If successful, the WeChat agent will seamlessly execute multi-step tasks – from hailing a taxi to booking a flight – all within a single chat interface.
Tencent is reportedly on the verge of debuting the feature. A Financial Times report on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources, said a prototype was currently being tested, with compliance processes expected to begin as early as this month ahead of a public roll-out.
Alibaba, however, has already begun capitalising on its strength in e-commerce.
Last month, the tech giant integrated agentic AI into its flagship marketplace, Taobao, allowing the Qwen app to act as a personal shopper that helps users filter products, compare options and complete purchases directly through the chatbot interface.


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China Future Tech

As Tencent prepares a rival WeChat agent, Alibaba is moving quickly to turn Qwen from a chatbot into a digital concierge for everyday life


As Tencent prepares a rival WeChat agent, Alibaba is moving quickly to turn Qwen from a chatbot into a digital concierge for everyday life.


From fried chicken to flight plans: Alibaba wants Qwen to become China’s digital fixer

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}As Tencent prepares a rival WeChat agent, Alibaba is moving quickly to turn Qwen from a chatbot into a digital concierge for everyday life

As Tencent prepares a rival WeChat agent, Alibaba is moving quickly to turn Qwen from a chatbot into a digital concierge for everyday life