Alibaba Group has formed a business unit overseeing all its AI businesses, as the Chinese tech giant seeks to solidify its position in the global artificial-intelligence race.

The new business unit, called Alibaba Token Hub, will be led by Eddie Wu, Alibaba's chief executive. The unit comprises AI model research team Tongyi Laboratory, the company's model-as-a-business business line, the Qwen AI assistant unit, the Wukong arm focusing on building an AI-native platform for enterprises, and its AI innovation business unit, the company said in a statement late Monday.

Alibaba established the unit to seize a "historic opportunity" as AI agents are poised to account for an increasingly bigger share of digital work, Wu said in a memo to Alibaba staff. Alibaba's Qwen model series is one of the most popular models in the global open-source community.

The move comes after Alibaba's Qwen tech lead Lin Junyang left the company earlier this month. The departure of key technical talent could be a setback for the company, Morningstar's Chelsey Tam said in a research note at the time.

The company has been ramping up efforts to integrate its models with its retail and service platforms to turn chatbots into action-taking assistants that can handle everything from shopping to task management.

Alibaba is due to report earnings Thursday.