The Amazing Ways Chinese Tech Giant Alibaba Uses Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning

When you discover the ways Chinese company Alibaba, the world's largest e-commerce marketplace with $248 billion in transactions (more than eBay and Amazon combined), invests in artificial intelligence and machine learning, you realize quickly that the list of what it doesn't impact is much shorter. Since 1999 when the company was launched in founder Jack Ma's apartment, Alibaba's core business remains to sell goods, but its influence and operations have expanded to make it one of the most valuable tech companies in the world. One of the reasons Alibaba and other Chinese tech companies such as Tencent and Baidu, collectively known as BAT, are making extraordinary gains in artificial intelligence is the support, investment and commitment of the Chinese government to become the dominant AI player in the world. With plans to build a $1 trillion AI industry by 2030, China is on a path to overtake the United States as the world's leader in technology. Along with an enormous population that generates critical data to inform AI algorithms and help make them better as well as a society who is keen on technological change and not as pushy on regulation, China is fertile ground to develop AI applications, and Alibaba is moving full throttle ahead. In fact, Alibaba invested in seven research labs that will focus on artificial intelligence, machine learning, network security, natural language processing and more.