By Adam Clark

Alibaba isn't slowing down in its push to become China's artificial-intelligence champion. The e-commerce company said Thursday it was simultaneously launching AI-powered smart glasses and a new chatbot.

Alibaba said presales of its Quark AI Glasses will start Friday on its Tmall platform, and that shipments will begin in December. The smart glasses will start at 4,699 yuan ($660).

The release is being timed to coincide with China's version of Black Friday, Singles Day -- Nov. 11 -- the world's largest shopping event. It is the culmination of what is typically a two-week period of sales offered by retailers including Alibaba.

"Lightweight and ergonomically designed, Quark AI Glasses support hands-free calling, music streaming, real-time language translation, and meeting transcription," Alibaba said. "The glasses are engineered to deliver smooth AI-enabled interactions, featuring long battery life and high-quality imaging."

Meta Platforms is the global leader when it comes to smart glasses. More than two million pairs of Ray-Ban Meta have been sold since their launch in 2023, according to Meta's eyewear-manufacturing partner EssilorLuxottica. Last month, Meta launched a $799 version of the smart glasses with a small built-in display.

Alibaba also said Thursday it was launching a new AI chat assistant for its Quark app, its rival to OpenAI's ChatGPT, bringing together dialogue and search capabilities.

Alibaba said earlier this year that it would invest at least 380 billion yuan in cloud computing and AI over the next three years. It is the biggest such commitment by any Chinese company.

Alibaba was a Barron's stock pick for 2025. We noted the potential for its low valuation to increase if investors warmed to the Chinese market. The American depositary receipts have nearly doubled since then and were up 2.4% to $169.84 in morning trading Thursday.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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October 23, 2025 10:01 ET (14:01 GMT)

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