China’s tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. aims to work with its home province, one of the nation’s wealthiest, to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital economy.
Zhejiang, a province on China’s eastern seaboard, entered a cooperation agreement with Alibaba, vowing to create a better business environment for platform-economy firms and to encourage innovations in areas including artificial intelligence, according to a report of Securities Times on Wednesday.
While the backing for Alibaba came from a provincial, not national, government, a separate statement Wednesday showed that a national regulator backed Zhejiang in taking the lead in trials for platform-economy innovation. That deal was signed between the State Administration for Market Regulation and Zhejiang.
The developments suggest official backing for Alibaba’s efforts, against a backdrop in recent years of regulatory moves against the firm. Chinese policymakers have also been steadily calling for innovative advances in digital applications, as part of a broader effort to support economic growth.
Alibaba Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang, who signed the pact with local government officials, said that the digital economy has entered a new age with artificial intelligence sweeping the world this year, according to the report.
Cluster Eyed
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Alibaba is dedicated to building Zhejiang into a world-class digital economy cluster, leveraging its technology platform, Zhang also said.
The company is integrating its large language model across its various business lines to improve user experience, under competitive pressure in the wake of OpenAI Inc.’s advances with ChatGPT.
Meantime, Zhejiang also said it supports qualified tech companies’ share listings in China and overseas.
