Alibaba’s artificial intelligence chatbot Qwen experienced temporary disruptions during a promotional coupon campaign, highlighting challenges in scaling AI-powered shopping tools amid high user demand. The chatbot had to pause issuing coupons due to an overwhelming number of orders, slowing the company’s effort to showcase the tool’s capabilities beyond answering questions.
The initiative is part of Alibaba’s broader plan to integrate Qwen into its ecosystem, enabling users to complete purchases across Alibaba-owned platforms using chatbot prompts alone. The coupon giveaway marks the first phase of a 3-billion-yuan ($433 million) campaign to attract users during China’s Spring Festival holiday.
Coupon Campaign Overwhelmed by User Demand
Qwen began offering the coupons on Friday, allowing shoppers to make in-app purchases directly through the chatbot. Within the first nine hours, approximately 10 million orders were placed. The unprecedented demand quickly overloaded the system, prompting the chatbot to post messages on its official Weibo account asking users for patience.
“Everyone’s enthusiasm for experiencing AI shopping is too high! Currently there are too many participants in ‘Qwen free order,’ we are working tirelessly to maintain the campaign’s experience,” Qwen wrote in response to repeated purchase prompts. The chatbot reassured users that coupons would remain valid until February 28, giving shoppers ample time to redeem them.
Technical Challenges and AI Ambitions
Alibaba has been positioning Qwen as a one-stop shop, similar to Google’s integration of its Gemini chatbot across apps such as Maps. By allowing users to access multiple services and complete payments through the chatbot, Alibaba aims to demonstrate the potential of what it calls its Agentic AI strategy.
However, technical difficulties during the coupon rollout underscore the operational challenges of managing AI tools under heavy load. Repeated prompts initially returned error messages citing oversubscription, although the issue appeared resolved by late Monday. Alibaba declined to comment further on the technical disruptions.
Despite the hiccup, the campaign reflects Alibaba’s ambition to make AI an integral part of online shopping, combining convenience with promotional incentives. The company is likely to monitor user responses and system performance closely as it continues rolling out AI-driven shopping features throughout the holiday period.
