Alibaba Group Holding has separated the team in charge of developing applications for its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Tongyi Qianwen from the team that builds its large language model (LLM), in a bid to better serve the consumer-facing market, according to Chinese tech media outlet 36Kr.
The AI chatbot team will transition to the Intelligent Information Platform, which primarily oversees consumer-oriented products, including UC Browser and search engine Quark.
Meanwhile, the LLM research and development division, Tongyi Lab, will remain as part of Alibaba Cloud to focus on fundamental research and to support specific products, according to the report on Wednesday.
Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The move comes as China’s Big Tech companies race to turn the technology into actual products. Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen, also known as Qianwen, is one of China’s leading generative AI models.
