“As traditional internet models become increasingly homogeneous and face the competitive pressures of saturation, new technologies such as AI are emerging as the new engine of global business growth,” Wu, who assumed his new role on Sunday, wrote in an internal letter sent to employees on Tuesday morning.
“We will recalibrate our operations around these two core strategies and reshape our business priorities,” he said.
As part of its business transformation, Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, would strengthen its strategic investments in three areas: technology-driven internet platforms, AI-driven tech businesses and global commerce networks, Wu said.
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“The trends we are seeing now in turn prove the strategic importance of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence,” Chen Duan, director of the Digital Economy Integration Innovation Development Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said on Monday.
CEO Wu said the company must search for ways to integrate AI innovations into its various businesses.
“Each of our businesses generates massive numbers of use cases,” Wu wrote. “Therefore, we must transform these use cases into applications for AI technology, driving breakthrough user experience and business models through technology innovation. If we don’t keep up with the changes of the AI era, we will be displaced.”
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Alibaba names co-founder Joe Tsai chairman, in surprise shake-up as Daniel Zhang steps down
Alibaba names co-founder Joe Tsai chairman, in surprise shake-up as Daniel Zhang steps down
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In his letter, Wu said the Hangzhou-based company is committed to supporting the career advancement of younger employees to assume leadership roles. “Within the next four years, we will promote those born after 1985 and [the] 1990s to form the core of our business management teams,” he wrote.
“I firmly believe that as long as we get back to our start-up mindset, not dwell on the past and not get stuck in our old ways, Alibaba will be rewarded with enormous growth and create even greater value in the era of AI,” Wu said.
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