Alibaba to launch HappyHorse AI API, fueling China's model wars

Alibaba is preparing to launch an API for its new HappyHorse AI model, escalating the technology giant’s race against rivals Tencent and Baidu in China's lucrative artificial intelligence sector.

"HappyHorse is a model developed by the innovation business department of Alibaba's ATH, and it is currently in internal testing," an ATH spokesperson said on April 10. "The API will also be opened in the near future."

The announcement follows the recent success of Alibaba's Qwen (Tongyi Qianwen) series of models. While technical specifications for HappyHorse have not yet been disclosed, its development is part of a broader company initiative to explore new AI-driven interactive experiences.

For investors, the launch signals Alibaba's commitment to competing for a slice of China's AI market, estimated to be worth over $200 billion by 2025. The stock (BABA), down over 20% in the past year, may see renewed interest as it expands its AI product suite.

The new model is part of a broader "AI era new interaction exploration plan" initiated by the ATH innovation business unit. "We will launch more products one after another," the company added, suggesting a pipeline of AI tools designed to challenge established players.

China's Crowded AI Field

Alibaba's move pits HappyHorse and its existing Qwen models directly against other domestic heavyweights. Tencent's Hunyuan and Baidu's Ernie Bot have already attracted significant user bases and enterprise clients. The upcoming API release for HappyHorse is a strategic step to capture developer interest and build an ecosystem around Alibaba's technology, a playbook successfully used by global players like OpenAI.

The success of these models will heavily depend on their performance on key benchmarks and their cost of inference. While Alibaba has not released performance data for HappyHorse, its Qwen-72B model has previously shown competitive results against models like GPT-3.5. Investors will be closely watching for details on how HappyHorse differentiates itself in a market where both performance and cost are critical for adoption.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.