In the final weeks of 2022, just as China was unwinding three years of pandemic controls, Jack Ma was at a low point. Alibaba, his colossal internet empire, was under assault from regulators and from rivals stealing market share in ecommerce and cloud computing. Its share price was down 80 per cent from its peak. The billionaire himself had relocated to Tokyo, retreating from public view after falling out of favour with Beijing.
The release that November of OpenAI’s powerful bot ChatGPT only seemed to underscore to Ma how far Alibaba had fallen, according to a source close to him. He recognised the significance of a technology with the potential to transform the global economy. But he also knew that Alibaba was far behind. In that moment, the seeds of a transformation were sown. In the two years since, Ma has quietly presided over a strategic turnaround that investors are betting puts Alibaba in a leading position in China’s push to roll out AI nationwide. Alibaba is now seen to be in peak position to capitalise on an expected boom in AI demand in China, which has been galvanised by the buzz around DeepSeek, a homegrown start-up whose advanced AI model was built with fewer resources.

Full report : Sources detail Alibaba’s pivot to AI, quietly led by Jack Ma after ChatGPT’s 2022 debut, but question whether it can establish a lead in the competitive AI race.