Alibaba Enters Robotics Race

Alibaba Group has launched an in-house robotics team, joining the competition to develop AI-powered robots. The team, led by Justin Lin from Alibaba's Qwen division, will concentrate on robotics and embodied AI to advance the company's AI models. Lin's team aims to create 'foundation agents' capable of long-range reasoning and real-world application by using multimodal models that process text, images, and audio.

The objective is to transition these systems from virtual environments to physical robots. CEO Eddie Wu anticipates global AI investment could reach $4 trillion within five years. Alibaba is positioning itself at the intersection of AI software and intelligent hardware, having recently led a $140 million funding round in the Chinese robotics firm X Square Robot.

Global tech companies are heavily investing in robotics, viewing it as a potentially massive market. SoftBank, for example, recently acquired ABB Ltd.'s industrial robot business for $5.4 billion. Alibaba's move signifies a strategic effort to extend its AI ecosystem into physical applications.