Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Cautions Against the Risk of Displacement: A Wake-Up Call for Businesses

Signage at the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. booth at the Smart China Expo in Chongqing, China, on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023.

Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Alibaba aims to prioritize the “user first” and “AI-driven” approach, according to the new CEO Eddie Wu, who recently addressed the employees. Wu, who assumed the role of Alibaba’s CEO just three days ago, emphasized the need for the e-commerce giant to adopt a start-up mindset and navigate through the challenging times. In a letter seen by CNBC, Wu expressed the necessity for Alibaba to evolve at a faster pace as the world progresses.

Wu, a close confidant of Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma, took over the CEO position on Sept. 10, succeeding Daniel Zhang, who decided to focus on leading the cloud computing business. However, in a surprising move, Zhang stepped down as CEO of the cloud division this week, with Wu temporarily assuming the role.

This development follows Alibaba’s significant restructuring, which divided the company into six distinct business groups, marking the most profound shakeup in its history.

Wu outlined Alibaba’s strategic focuses as being “user first” and “AI-driven.” The company intends to reinforce its strategic investments in three key areas.

The first area is “technology-driven internet platforms.” Wu stated that Alibaba’s business should foster open and collaborative relationships, even with competitors. This demonstrates a shift from Alibaba’s previous strategy of keeping users within its own ecosystem of products.

Furthermore, Wu emphasized the importance of investing in artificial intelligence. Alibaba’s cloud unit aspires to establish itself as a leader in AI within China to reignite growth in this sector.

Wu highlighted the significance of transforming the numerous use cases generated by each of Alibaba’s businesses into AI applications. This technological innovation is expected to drive breakthrough user experience and business models.

Wu warned that failure to keep up with the changes of the AI era could result in displacement for Alibaba.

In addition, Alibaba Cloud introduced its large language model, Tongyi Qianwen, earlier this year. Similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, this AI model is trained on extensive data and serves as the foundation for chatbot applications.

Alibaba also intends to continue investing in “globalization.”

Furthermore, Wu stressed the importance of promoting younger talent within the company. Over the next four years, individuals born after 1985 and in the 1990s will form the core of Alibaba’s business management teams.

Alibaba is transforming from a growth stock to a value stock: Portfolio manager

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