- Alibaba has upgraded Tongyi Lab to a business unit and establishes a new group technology committee to accelerate its AI expansion.
- The newly formed technology committee is headed by Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu.
Alibaba has upgraded its AI research and development team, Tongyi Lab, into the Tongyi large model business unit to accelerate its strategic expansion in the AI sector.
Group CEO Eddie Wu announced the move in an internal memo released on Wednesday, along with other AI-related organizational adjustments, including the establishment of a new group technology committee.
The newly established technology committee is led by Eddie Wu, with core members including Zhou Jingren, Wu Zeming, and the newly appointed Alibaba Cloud CTO Li Feifei.
Zhou will serve as the committee's chief AI architect and head of the Tongyi large model business unit, while Li will oversee Alibaba Cloud's technology and AI cloud infrastructure development.
Wu Zeming will focus on his role as group CTO, further concentrating on the development of AI-related technology platforms.
The upgrade marks Alibaba's latest move in the AI space, following the launch of the Alibaba token Hub (ATH) business group last month, which centers on the creation and application of tokens.
The company is seeking to consolidate its strengths and resources to invest in this most critical battleground.
The Alibaba CEO said in a recent conference call that annual revenue from cloud and AI commercialization is expected to top $100 billion within the next five years.
The large model-driven MaaS (Model as a Service) business will serve as the core growth engine, and enterprises treating token consumption as a production cost is the underlying factor supporting long-term AI growth, Wu said.
Investors welcomed Alibaba's latest organizational restructuring and its AI commercialization prospects, driving its share price higher in the capital markets.
Boosted by the news of the organizational adjustments, Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares closed 6.75% higher at HK$126.50 per share on April 8.
