Alibaba Renames AI App to Stand Out in China’s Crowded Chatbot Market
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The Qianwen app.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has renamed its personal AI assistant app in a renewed effort to crack China’s hyper-competitive chatbot market.
The beta version of the Qianwen app, formerly known as Tongyi, has been repositioned as an gateway for consumers to access a variety of AI-powered services, including mapping, shopping and health care, Alibaba said on Monday.
Compared to its predecessor, the new Qianwen app features a simplified homepage with only a dialogue box and mini programs. Entrances for features like AI-driven creation and intelligent agents have been adjusted and streamlined.
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- Alibaba rebranded its AI assistant app as Qianwen, streamlining features and planning an international launch.
- In September 2025, Qianwen ranked 10th in China's AI app market with 3.06 million monthly users; leaders were Doubao (172M), DeepSeek (145M), and Yuanbao (32.86M).
- Alibaba announced a ¥380 billion ($53.5B) investment in cloud and AI hardware infrastructure over three years, exceeding the past decade's spending.
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Who’s Who
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has rebranded its AI assistant app, now called Qianwen, in an attempt to capture a larger share of China's competitive chatbot market. This marks the app's second rebranding since its initial launch in October 2023. The Qianwen app offers a variety of AI-powered services and is powered by Alibaba's Qwen3 foundational model. The company plans to release an international version later this year.
- ByteDance
- ByteDance is a significant player in China's competitive chatbot market. Its AI chatbot product, Doubao, is highly popular, holding the top spot in China with 172 million monthly active users as of September 2025. This indicates a dominant presence in the AI application landscape.
- Tencent
- Tencent is a notable player in China's competitive chatbot market. Its AI app, Yuanbao, held the third position among the most popular AI apps in China as of September 2025, with 32.86 million monthly active users. This places Tencent as one of the leading companies alongside ByteDance and DeepSeek in the crowded AI chatbot industry in China.
- DeepSeek
- In China's competitive AI chatbot market, DeepSeek holds the second-highest spot in terms of monthly active users. In September 2025, it had 145 million monthly active users, placing it behind ByteDance's Doubao and ahead of Tencent's Yuanbao.
- OpenAI
- The article does not contain information about "开放人工智能研究中心" or "OpenAI" beyond a brief mention of ChatGPT's user numbers. No further details about OpenAI, its operations, or its relationship to the other companies mentioned are provided.
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What Happened When
- October 2023：
- Alibaba first released its personal AI assistant to the public as Tongyi Qianwen.
- May 2024：
- The app was renamed Tongyi, and Alibaba announced plans to integrate the full suite of its Tongyi large language model capabilities.
- 2024：
- Quark browser reached over 70 million monthly active users.
- November 2024：
- Following an organizational shakeup, the Tongyi app was placed under the company’s 'AI 2C' division.
- February 2025：
- Alibaba announced it would invest over 380 billion yuan in cloud and AI hardware infrastructure over the next three years.
- September 2025：
- Qwen3-Max, Alibaba's more powerful flagship AI model, was released.
- September 2025：
- The Tongyi app was the tenth most popular AI app in China with 3.06 million monthly active users.
- September 2025：
- At the Apsara Conference, Alibaba Chairman Wu predicted that large language models will become next-generation operating systems.
- October 2025：
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said ChatGPT had reached 800 million weekly active users.
- November 17, 2025：
- Alibaba rebranded its personal AI assistant app: the beta version of the Qianwen app, formerly Tongyi, was launched.
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