- New vendor-facing handles customer service, recommendations and after-sales tasks
- Alibaba expands AI agent strategy across both buyers and sellers
Alibaba Group on May 11 launched a new AI-powered customer service agent for merchants on its Taobao and Tmall platforms, as China’s e-commerce giant steps up efforts to automate online shopping ahead of the annual 618 mid-year sales festival.
The new system, named “AI Dian Xiaomi,” or store assistant, is designed to handle both pre-sales and after-sales tasks, marking what Alibaba described as the e-commerce industry’s first customer service agent capable of completing operational workflows rather than simply answering questions.
The rollout comes one day after Alibaba announced that its Qwen large language model had been fully integrated with Taobao and Tmall to create AI-driven shopping experiences for consumers.
While Qwen targets buyers, the new “Dian Xiaomi” platform focuses on merchants.
Alibaba said internal testing showed merchants using the upgraded AI assistant reduced transfers to human staff by 45%. Conversion rates under combined “AI plus human” workflows improved by more than 10% compared with fully human-operated customer service, according to the company.
For shoppers, the system promises faster and more accurate responses during online purchases.
Alibaba said reply speeds improved by 50%, with response accuracy exceeding 90%. The AI assistant can recommend clothing sizes, explain product specifications and identify customer concerns such as delivery timing delays.
The tool can also autonomously trigger functions including related-product recommendations and out-of-stock substitutions. A multimodal image-recognition feature allows consumers to upload product photos to search for identical or similar items.
According to Alibaba, merchants using the new version achieved average inquiry-to-purchase conversion rates of around 10%, while apparel sellers saw gains of roughly 20%.
The platform also includes risk-control features designed to limit unauthorized compensation payouts and detect fraudulent claims using AI-generated fake-image recognition models.
A new phase
“The customer service industry is entering a new phase led by AI, with humans playing a supporting role,” Chen Weiye, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Taobao Platform, said. “AI Dian Xiaomi is no longer just a question-and-answer tool. It now has the ability to directly execute tasks and generate productivity.”
The service runs on Qwen’s latest large language model and has been trained on Taobao’s massive transaction data, with additional fine-tuning for different industries and e-commerce scenarios.
“It understands industries, platform rules and users,” Zhan Lijun, Head of Customer Operations, Taotian Group, which operates Taobao and Tmall.
As of March 2026, the new platform handled nearly 10 million conversations per day and served more than 1 million merchants, according to Alibaba.
