Alibaba rolls out AI-powered smart glasses: What do they offer?
What's the story
Alibaba has joined the race for smart glasses in China with its first pair of AI-powered spectacles. The new product, called Quark AI glasses after Alibaba's own digital assistant, was unveiled at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai. This is Alibaba's first foray into the competitive smart glasses market dominated by local players like Rokid and Xreal.
Product launch
Quark AI glasses to be available later this year
The Quark AI glasses were publicly showcased for the first time at WAIC. While Alibaba has said that the development of this product is complete and it plans to launch it officially sometime this year, no specific date has been given yet. Song Gang, head of smart terminal business at Alibaba's Intelligent Information business group, said during a sub-forum that "AI glasses will become the most important form of wearable intelligence."
Market strategy
Alibaba's massive investment in AI infrastructure
Alibaba's entry into the smart glasses market is part of a larger plan to bolster its AI capabilities. Earlier this year, the company had announced a massive investment of $53 billion in AI infrastructure over the next three years. The tech giant is also accelerating software and hardware development using its proprietary Qwen AI model series.
Strategic alliances
Revamped Quark assistant and partnership with RayNeo
In a bid to expand its AI capabilities, Alibaba had partnered with augmented reality glasses manufacturer RayNeo earlier this year. The collaboration was aimed at providing AI support to Hong Kong-based RayNeo's products. In March, Alibaba also revamped Quark, its digital assistant, turning it from a search engine and cloud storage tool into an "all-in-one AI assistant."