Alibaba founder Jack Ma makes comeback with AI

Alibaba is planning to invest fifty billion euros in artificial intelligence and cloud computing, as the Chinese e-commerce giant says it wants to give a major boost to digital innovations in e-commerce. Surprisingly to many, founder Jack Ma suddenly reappeared on the scene.

Along with releasing solid quarterly results, Alibaba announced it wants to invest more than 380 billion yuan (around fifty billion euros) in artificial intelligence and cloud services over the next three years. Although the company does not provide further details, Alibaba says it wants to attract top talent and build a technological ecosystem for advanced generative AI applications.

The announcement follows a sudden comeback by Alibaba founder Ma, who was spotted at a meeting for tech entrepreneurs with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week. Ma fell out of favour after critical statements about how he believed the president was hindering the growth of the technology sector. Ma had to disappear from public view for years and saw Alibaba’s banking division being forced to split up to break its power. Now, however, the government seems to want to rekindle ties with the private sector.

In the third quarter of its financial year, Alibaba saw its revenue rise 8%, which was more than expected, to 280 billion yuan (35 billion euros). Investors and market experts see Alibaba’s strategy as an important boost for the further adoption of artificial intelligence worldwide.