On February 15th, Wu Jia, President of the C-end Business Group at Alibaba's Qianwen App, addressed the overwhelming response to the platform's Spring Festival free order promotion. Following the launch of the initiative on February 6th, order volume surged dramatically, reaching 10 million orders within just nine hours and at times overwhelming the system. A second wave of free orders commenced on February 14th, intensifying competition in the AI sector.
Wu Jia revealed that the results from February 6th far surpassed expectations. The initial forecast was for 1 million orders, but the actual figure reached 15 million—fifteen times the projection. He described the launch, which began with a limited gray release at midnight, where an allocation of 50,000 free vouchers intended to last until 6 AM was claimed by users in merely eight minutes due to high enthusiasm. Unexpectedly, order activity remained strong into the early morning hours of 1 AM and 2 AM, requiring all-hands-on-deck efforts overnight. By 9 AM the next day, the service had gained significant traction.
Responding to reports that Qianwen's Daily Active Users (DAU) had nearly matched those of competitor Doubao by February 7th, Wu Jia stated that while internal data was slightly higher, DAU is not the primary metric for the company. The focus, he emphasized, is on user feedback and experience. Key indicators include how often users invoke the assistant with phrases like "Qianwen, help me," which signals the formation of user habits. The team also analyzes which scenarios have the strongest user demand and which implementations need refinement. The ultimate goal is to enhance AI's ability to serve users' daily lives effectively.
When questioned about whether the campaign was merely an aggressive subsidy strategy, Wu Jia clarified that the intent was not to engage in internal competition. The core idea is to integrate AI into everyday consumer scenarios. Actions such as ordering milk tea or purchasing movie tickets through AI might seem simple, but they represent AI's first real involvement in consumers' decision-making and transaction processes. This, he argued, is not about chasing traffic but about an inevitable future trend.
Wu Jia also announced the recent launch of features for AI-powered purchases of movie tickets, event tickets, and flight and hotel bookings. Additional functionalities, including AI ride-hailing, mobile top-ups, and AI-assisted shopping on Taobao, are under active development and will be released continuously. These real-world scenarios will serve to validate and improve AI's service capabilities.
Regarding the long-term return on the reported 30 billion yuan investment, Wu Jia indicated that the actual expenditure has significantly exceeded that amount due to unexpectedly high user participation. He stressed that AI maturity is not achieved overnight but is honed through real-world application. Compared to traditional services, user interactions with AI assistants are more diverse and personalized, accompanied by substantial increases in computational demands and complexity. The surge in orders and fulfillment pressure effectively makes the Qianwen free order campaign a large-scale "AI stress test" for society. The objective is to refine AI's practical capabilities through continuous experimentation, exploration, and testing, ultimately aiming to serve consumers and society effectively.