Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, is making its (artificial intelligence) AI language model, Tongyi Qianwen, available to interested partners and industries.

After the official launch in April, Alibaba Cloud received over 200,000 beta testing requests from different sectors, including fintech, electronics, transport, fashion — and even dairy — of Tongyi Qianwen. 

The company hopes to assist its customers and developers to create customized AI features in a cost-effective way through the latest AI large language model. The first batch of industrial models in the program will cover sectors including petrochemicals, electricity, transportation, hospitality, enterprise services, telecommunications, and finance.

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“To cater to the skyrocketing demand for Tongyi Qianwen from different sectors that are keen to accelerate their intelligence transformation process, we are fully committed to working closely with our partners to develop customized, specialized AI models,” said Daniel Zhang, chair and CEO of Alibaba Group and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “Together with our industrial partners, we can deliver more tangible value to enterprise customers to suit their specific business needs.”

Tongyi Qianwen Partnership Program

Partners who will participate can modify or make adjustments to Tongyi Qianwen as Alibaba Cloud provides technology support, cloud computing, AI, and machine learning products. The language model can be “retrained” with proprietary intelligence and industrial know-how in a secure and designated cloud environment. 

The co-building models will be available through websites and APIs for enterprise customers and developers to create various applications, such as intelligent customer services, shopping guides, domain-specific virtual consultants, and design assistants.

Industries

The initial partners enrolled in the program include Kunlun Digital Technology (petrochemicals), LongShine Technology (electricity), China Transinfo Technology (transportation), Shiji Group (hospitality), Yonyou Network Technology (enterprise services), AsiaInfo Technologies (telecommunications services) and CICC Wealth Management (finance).

Alibaba Cloud also plans to integrate Tongyi Qianwen into all business applications across its ecosystem in the near future to further enhance the user experience. As one of the latest incorporations, Tongyi Qianwen is currently being integrated into Alibaba’s operating system for cars, AliOS, for internal tests. IM Motors, a premium electric vehicle venture backed by Alibaba Group and SAIC Motor, is signed up to be the first auto brand to implement Tongyi Qianwen-powered AliOS in the coming future.

Last week, DingTalk, Alibaba’s digital collaboration workplace and application development platform, demonstrated various AI functions powered by the new model, including meeting notes and group chat summaries, as well as creating a mini application on DingTalk by photographing a draft idea written on paper.