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AsianFin -- Alibaba on Thursday launched its flagship AI application—New Quark.
Built on Alibaba's cutting-edge Tongyi inference and multimodal large models, New Quark has been fully upgraded into a boundless "AI Super Framework."
Alibaba said that the latest advancements in the Tongyi series of models will be seamlessly integrated into Quark as soon as they become available.
Alibaba describes New Quark as a leap beyond traditional search engines, evolving into an all-in-one "AI Super Framework" designed to meet users' diverse AI needs in work, study, and daily life.
While the current mainstream AI product format is dominated by chatbots, Quark aims to go a step further by integrating AI conversation, deep thinking, in-depth search, advanced research, and task execution into a simplified yet powerful framework that addresses all user demands.
Regarding this upgrade, Wu Jia, Vice President of Alibaba Group and CEO of Quark, said "This upgraded version is merely a prototype of the new Quark. As model capabilities continue to evolve and improve, we envision the Quark AI Super Framework functioning like Doraemon's pocket—a gateway for users to enter the AI world and access limitless possibilities."
This marks the first time Wu, as the head of Alibaba's Intelligent Information Business Group, has publicly used the title of Quark CEO. The position of Quark CEO has existed internally for some time. Currently, Alibaba's Intelligent Information Business Group comprises four core business segments: Quark, UC Browser, Shuqi Novel, and Intelligent Marketing, with Quark being the only unit to have its own dedicated CEO.
Alibaba's efforts to promote New Quark does not imply a rebranding of the Quark product. Instead, the "AI Super Framework" concept aligns with the emerging idea of an AI agent. This framework enables Quark to automatically recognize user intent, organize and plan tasks, and mobilize various models and agent modules to assist users in completing their objectives.
Currently, New Quark can address questions and execute tasks across diverse scenarios, including AI search, AI writing, AI-generated images, AI-powered PPT creation, academic research, problem-solving, health Q&A, and travel planning.
The mobile homepage of Quark features a clean and minimalist design, prominently showcasing functions such as AI writing, AI-generated images, academic search, AI PPT creation, and translation.
One of the defining characteristics of AI as a productivity tool is its speed. In response to the rapidly evolving landscape, Alibaba is accelerating its efforts to capitalize on the current wave of AI-related opportunities.
Just two weeks ago, following Baidu's announcement of its renewed focus on AI search, Quark swiftly launched updates centered on AI search, declaring, "It's time to say goodbye to traditional search!"
At the end of February, Quark was already focusing on developing AI search-related services. Now, Alibaba has rebranded New Quark with the external positioning of "bidding farewell to search." This shift may have been influenced by the emotional wave triggered by the release of Manus, a general-purpose Agent product by AI startup Monica, in early March.
On March 11, Alibaba Cloud's Tongyi Qwen team announced a partnership with the Manus team. The collaboration will leverage open-source models from the Tongyi Qwen series to implement all of Manus's functionalities on domestic models and computing platforms. The two technical teams have already begun close cooperation to develop a general-purpose intelligent agent product tailored for Chinese users.
Alibaba has been intensifying its efforts in foundational models and native applications, recently launching globally leading open-source models such as Qwen2.5-VL, Qwen2.5-Max, Tongyi Wanxiang 2.1, and Qwen QWQ-32B.
With the launch of New Quark and its ambitious AI strategy, Alibaba is positioning itself at the forefront of the AI revolution, aiming to redefine user experiences and solidify its leadership in the tech industry.
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