Alibaba, Ant Race to Catch Rivals in China’s AI App Boom
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and its affiliate Ant Group Co. Ltd. are accelerating efforts to capture consumer attention in China’s booming artificial intelligence sector. The companies’ newly released AI apps have notched millions of downloads in just days, bolstered by aggressive marketing campaigns.
Alibaba said its AI-powered chatbot app Qianwen surpassed 10 million downloads within a week of launching public testing on Nov. 17. Ant’s vibe coding app LingGuang, which debuted a day later, topped 2 million downloads in its first six days.
The surge has propelled Qianwen to fourth place and LingGuang to sixth on China’s Apple App Store free-app chart. The top spots are held by ByteDance Ltd.’s Doubao, short-drama app Hongguo, and a music service from ByteDance-owned Douyin.
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- Alibaba's AI chatbot Qianwen surpassed 10 million downloads in a week; Ant’s LingGuang hit 2 million in six days, both backed by major ad spends.
- Qianwen and LingGuang ranked fourth and sixth, respectively, on China’s Apple App Store, marking Alibaba and Ant's strategic shift towards consumer AI.
- The Chinese AI app market remains highly competitive, with ByteDance’s Doubao leading with 172 million monthly users; OpenAI’s ChatGPT has 800 million weekly global users.
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is aggressively pushing its AI app, Qianwen, which recently garnered over 10 million downloads in a week. They've invested heavily in advertising and reorganized their business to focus on consumer AI, integrating Qianwen with various services. This strategic move aims to catch up in China's competitive AI market.
- Ant Group Co. Ltd.
- Ant Group Co. Ltd. is accelerating its efforts in China's AI sector with its AI app, LingGuang, topping 2 million downloads. LingGuang, an all-modal AI assistant, runs on Ant's proprietary Bailing model and also uses Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen. The company formed a dedicated division, Inclusion AI, to develop LingGuang.
- ByteDance Ltd.
- ByteDance Ltd. is a prominent player in China's AI app market, with its Doubao app leading with 172 million users. It also holds top spots in China's Apple App Store free-app chart with Doubao, short-drama app Hongguo, and a music service from Douyin. ByteDance's Douyin, a video app, emerged as a dominant force despite launching after a rival.
- Tencent Holdings Ltd.
- Tencent Holdings Ltd. (腾讯控股有限公司) offers the AI app Yuanbao, which had 32.9 million monthly active users as of September. This places it third in the Chinese AI app market, behind ByteDance's Doubao and DeepSeek.
- DeepSeek
- DeepSeek is a prominent AI app in China, holding the second position in terms of monthly active users with 145 million, trailing only ByteDance's Doubao. Its rapid ascent prompted Ant Group to accelerate its own AI development, demonstrating that powerful AI models can be created with fewer resources. DeepSeek's success influenced Ant to launch its LingGuang app, marking a shift in their AI strategy.
- OpenAI
- OpenAI's ChatGPT had 800 million weekly active users globally in October. This large user base highlights the significant global presence and impact of OpenAI's offerings compared to Chinese domestic AI apps.
- Kuaishou
- The provided article content does not mention **Kuaishou**. Therefore, I cannot provide information about it based on the given text.
- October 2023：
- Alibaba originally launched the Tongyi app, which would later be rebranded as Qianwen.
- November 2024：
- Alibaba reorganized its business structure, placing Qianwen and Quark browser into a new AI to consumer (AI 2C) segment.
- March 2025：
- Ant formed a dedicated division called Inclusion AI to develop LingGuang.
- As of September 2025：
- Qianwen’s predecessor app, Tongyi, had 3.1 million monthly active users, ranking 10th in China.
- October 2025：
- OpenAI’s ChatGPT had 800 million weekly active users globally.
- November 17, 2025：
- Alibaba launched public testing of its AI-powered chatbot app Qianwen.
- Within a week after November 17, 2025：
- Qianwen surpassed 10 million downloads.
- November 18, 2025：
- Ant’s LingGuang app debuted.
- Within six days after November 18, 2025：
- LingGuang topped 2 million downloads.
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