Alibaba’s New CEO Elevates AI to Top Priority in Revamp
- In first comments to staff, Eddie Wu seeks tech leadership
- Wu takes over at a pivotal time for China’s ecommerce leader
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will put artificial intelligence and user experience at the top of its priorities, as its new leadership seeks to reclaim customers and market share in a fiercely competitive arena.
Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu laid out his vision in a memo to staff on Tuesday for the first time since officially taking over from veteran Daniel Zhang. Wu stressed Alibaba must adjust its approach to go AI-first, while not forgetting the hundreds of millions of users that helped create one of China’s largest corporations. In recent years, however, that lead has come under attack from new rivals in social media such as ByteDance Ltd. while the likes of Baidu Inc. have invested heavily in AI.