In the fast-paced world of workplace collaboration apps, Alibaba’s DingTalk is making waves with its innovative new feature: an artificial intelligence agent. This update comes as Chinese companies, including Alibaba’s competitor Feishu, are racing to incorporate AI into their products. DingTalk’s AI agent function aims to streamline and customize workflow for its users, based on feedback from over 700,000 corporate clients.
The announcement of DingTalk 7.5, which includes the AI agent feature, was made by Ye Jun, President of DingTalk, at a corporate event in Hangzhou. Jun stated that the new tool is expected to drive greater adoption of AI products in the industry. He highlights the importance of AI agents as a gateway for AI applications, saying, “As the tide of AI-generated content increasingly finds its way into productivity and [business] use cases, AI agents have emerged as the most suitable gateway for AI applications.”
DingTalk’s aspirations reach beyond just being a workplace collaboration app – it aims to become an AI agent platform with low entry barriers. The marketplace for AI agents is expected to experience substantial growth in the next three years. Currently, DingTalk boasts over 700 million users and serves 25 million organizations, including corporate and educational institutions. Of these, 120,000 are paying clients.
One notable example of DingTalk’s AI agent in action is its implementation by Belle International, a major player in the shoe and apparel industry. The company has deployed a customized AI agent on the DingTalk platform to track parcel shipment issues. The success of this venture has led Belle International to expand the use of the AI agent to other cases, including stock allocation.
DingTalk’s AI agent function is powered by the Tongyi Qianwen large language model (LLM), developed by Alibaba. LLMs are deep learning models that leverage vast amounts of data to enable chatbots to understand complex questions and respond with human-like text. This technology has been a game-changer, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT making waves in the market a year ago. In response, Chinese Big Tech firms, such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and Baidu, have been rapidly developing competitor products to ChatGPT across various sectors, including finance, law, manufacturing, retail, and public services.
With the introduction of DingTalk’s AI agent function, Alibaba is solidifying its position in the AI race. By incorporating AI agents into workplace collaboration apps, companies like Alibaba are revolutionizing how people work and interact in the modern world. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how DingTalk’s AI agent platform grows and adapts to meet the changing needs of its users. One thing is for sure: the future of workplace collaboration is becoming increasingly intelligent and efficient.
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