How Alibaba's ecosystem will ensure its artificial intelligence gets a real education

Last week, I attended the Alibaba Cloud Computing Conference, an annual showcase of its latest tech and innovations. The theme was'Empower Digital China' but also served as a reminder of how powerful Alibaba is. Its roots may lie in e-commerce, but through its machine learning systems and its cloud computing services, it has extended into almost every facet of Chinese life. AliPay, Tmall Genie and Taobao are just three of the brands which are part of the day-to-day life of millions of Chinese consumers. But perhaps the most interesting part of the business is its machine learning systems that are now gearing to compete with its Western counterparts.