Alibaba Expands AI Push with Robotics Breakthrough and Qwen Glitch, While Shares Cooled by Tech Selloff

Alibaba is advancing its artificial-intelligence agenda on two fronts. DAMO Academy unveiled RynnBrain, an open-source model aimed at giving robots sight and dexterity to perform tasks, while its in-house chatbot Qwen buckled under demand during a Spring Festival promo. The broader tech sector also weighed on the stock as investors reassessed AI-driven disruption risks.

RynnBrain: enabling robotic perception and action
- On February 10, Alibaba’s research unit, DAMO Academy, introduced RynnBrain, an open-source software model designed for robotic perception and action. The system can identify objects, interpret spatial relationships, and execute physical tasks.
- A demonstration clip shows a robot recognizing fruits and placing them into a basket, showcasing advanced object recognition paired with precise motor control.

Key implications:
- The new model positions Alibaba to compete directly with leaders in Physical AI, including Nvidia, Google DeepMind, and Tesla.
- Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang has estimated the AI robotics market in the trillions of dollars range.
- RynnBrain is released as open source on GitHub and Hugging Face.
- Alibaba’s strategic objective is to cultivate a developer ecosystem and channel workloads to Alibaba Cloud.

Qwen faces an overload during the Spring Festival promo
- Alibaba’s homegrown chatbot Qwen experienced a strain during a Spring Festival promotional push. The system became overwhelmed as demand surged.
- The campaign began on February 6; within the first nine hours, the platform logged 10 million orders as part of a 3-billion-yuan initiative designed to attract users during the Chinese New Year.
- Qwen informed followers on Weibo that the system was overloaded. The issued coupons remain valid through February 28.
- The promotion aims to establish Qwen as a central gateway to other Alibaba services and to enable payments directly within the chat, mirroring Google’s Gemini integration into its ecosystem.

Stock pressure amid a broader tech decline
- Alibaba’s shares slipped about 2.2% in Hong Kong trading, mirroring a wider tech sector pullback.
- The mood was influenced by concerns about AI-driven upheaval spreading from U.S. markets to Asia. For context, the prior session saw the S&P 500 down 1.57% and the Nasdaq Composite down 2.03%.

Earnings preview and focal points
- On February 19, Alibaba is slated to report Q3 results for fiscal year 2026. Analysts expect revenue of roughly 291 billion yuan, up 3.9% year over year.
- Investors will likely focus on cloud operations and AI offerings as profit drivers. In the prior quarter, Alibaba’s cloud revenue rose 34.5%.

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