AI at Alibaba: What We Know (And Don't)

A lot of what our society considers artificial intelligence is actually not, according to author Beth Daley of the Conversation.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, must mimic human intelligence in ways surpassing simple automation. Therefore, technological inventions that utilize statistics, data reporting, and other common methods of analyzing user activity (Daley, 2022) are not necessarily AI. Author David Lyle of Pacific Data Integrators used an example to highlight AI being incorrectly attributed by looking at a self-service soda machine that reported to researchers which soda combinations were highly popular. But this isn't artificial intelligence — it's just simple data reporting.

One modern company regularly utilizing AI in its business practices is Alibaba, an e-commerce platform headquartered in China. Aside from making large investments in AI research and software (Faggella, 2022), Alibaba is outwardly using artificial intelligence solutions to drive sales. One example of this is their Recommendation Systems Framework (RSF), which maximizes profits by showing users product recommendations based on their purchase and search history. According to Faggella, "the company claims that the AIRec system can analyze and capture user behavior in seconds and provide personalized recommendations within milliseconds." This quick turnover time helps Alibaba show recommended products to users while they're still in the mood to shop and therefore increase the click-through rate.

While investments in AI systems are evidence of development, it is not necessarily solid evidence that Alibaba will be utilizing artificial intelligence systems in their marketing or business practices moving forward, only that the company is looking into the possibilities. Aside from Alibaba's current recommendations system, we will have to wait and see how else the company utilizes artificial intelligence.