Alibaba International promotes its e-commerce platform for small businesses at the Canton Fair in Guangdong, China, on Oct. 16, 2024.
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BEIJING — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Tuesday unveiled an artificial intelligence-powered search engine for small businesses in Europe and the Americas to source supplies.
It’s an attempt to leverage ChatGPT-like tech to increase sales. Initial tests showed businesses’ purchase intent using the new tool increased by 40% versus traditional search engines, according to Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com and vice president of Alibaba International.
The product is called Accio, after the spell used in the Harry Potter fantasy series for summoning objects. The initial version is web-based and supports English, German, French, Portuguese and Spanish, according to the company.
With a few text or image prompts, businesses can use Accio to find wholesale products — including analysis on their popularity with consumers and projected profit, according to demos viewed by CNBC.
Examples shown included helping a sports entrepreneur to build a line of pickleball products. At the end of the search, the tool lists a number of procurement options for the business to discuss directly with each supplier.
The tech uses generative AI from Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen large language model, Zhang said, declining to confirm whether the product integrates AI from other companies.
An LLM is an artificial intelligence model trained on large amounts of data. A model supports generative AI applications, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which generates human-like responses to user prompts. To be sure, several businesses are still in the experimentation phase with AI and many firms are yet to find a way of monetizing the technology.
Accio uses data from 50 million businesses on Alibaba International’s platform, and publicly available industry information, Zhang said. He said the tool incorporates 1 billion product listings and documents covering industries across more than 100 markets from Alibaba.com, the company’s business-to-business platform which sells to companies outside China.
Businesses based in Europe and North America are the largest group of buyers, the company said.
The international business has grown rapidly in recent years, but Alibaba’s main revenue driver remains its domestic e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall. In August 2023, management told investors that “the Taobao app has the greatest potential to become a one stop smart portal for life and consumption enabled by AI.”
During the weeks-long Singles Day shopping festival that wrapped up Monday, more than half of over 500 merchants selling on Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba and JD.com used a generative AI-enabled tool, according to a survey by Bain & Company.
Those features include AI for customer service and generating content. The survey found 56% of respondents said AI tools had “high positive impact” on improving productivity.
Alibaba is scheduled to report quarterly results on Friday.
Baidu on Nov. 12, 2024, unveiled a pair of glasses with a built-in AI assistant, putting up a Chinese rival to the Meta Ray-Bans that have proven a rare success in AI-powered hardware.
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BEIJING — Chinese tech giant Baidu on Thursday posted a 3% annual drop in third-quarter revenue, nevertheless beating market expectations amid AI cloud growth.
The revenue print came in at $4.78 billion for the quarter ending on Sept. 30. Net income for the period rose by 14% to $1.09 billion.
Baidu noted a 12% surge in its non-online marketing revenue to the equivalent of $1.1 billion, mainly driven by its artificial intelligence cloud business.
Here’s what analysts expected the company to report for the quarter, according to LSEG estimates:
Revenue: $4.63 billion
Net income: $857.17 million
Baidu had reported revenue of 34.45 billion yuan ($4.75 billion) and net income of 6.68 billion yuan for the third quarter of 2023.
Beijing-based Baidu operates one of the major web browser search engines in China, along with a frequently used maps app. The company also sells cloud computing services. Online marketing drives a significant portion of the firm’s revenue.
In artificial intelligence, Baidu has promoted its Ernie chatbot as a local alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which isn’t available in China. Ernie bot now has 430 million users, Baidu said last week.
The company this month also announced that its Xiaodu AI Glasses will begin sales in the first half of next year. The wearable has at least one camera and uses Ernie’s AI capabilities and Baidu’s maps and search functions. While Baidu hasn’t revealed a price, the product is widely expected to be a Chinese alternative to Meta’s popular Ray-Ban smart glasses.
Baidu announced a management rotation last month, with Junjie He, formerly head of the mobile ecosystem group, becoming the company’s interim Chief Financial Officer, while former CFO Rong Luo assumed leadership of the mobile division.
Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading: Nvidia — The artificial intelligence darling slid nearly 2% despite exceeding expectations for the third quarter and providing strong guidance. Nvidia posted 81 cents in adjusted earnings per share and $35.08 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting 75 cents in earnings per share and $33.16 billion in revenue. Snowflake — The cloud stock soared 18% after beating earnings expectations for the third quarter and issuing strong guidance. Snowflake posted adjusted earnings of 20 cents per share on $942 million in revenue, while analysts surveyed by LSEG predicted 15 cents in earnings per share and $897 million in revenue. Palo Alto Networks — The cybersecurity stock slipped 5%. Palo Alto announced a two-for-one stock split. The company issued fiscal second-quarter guidance, calling for adjusted earnings of $1.54 to $1.56 per share on revenue of $2.22 billion to $2.25 billion. That was roughly in line with the Street’s forecast of $1.55 per share in earnings and $2.23 billion in revenue, per FactSet. Jack in the Box — The restaurant chain tumbled 5.6% after revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter came in at $349.3 million, under the consensus forecast of $356.7 million from analysts polled by FactSet. On the other hand, Jack in the Box earned $1.16 per share, excluding items, which was 7 cents ahead of what Wall Street penciled in.
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Williams-Sonoma — The home goods retailer soared about 29% after beating expectations on both lines for the third quarter and raising full-year guidance. Williams-Sonoma earned $1.96 per share on $1.80 billion in revenue, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had anticipated just $1.78 in earnings per share and $1.79 billion in revenue. Ford Motor — Shares of the U.S. automaker slid 3% after Ford said on Wednesday it plans to cut around 14% of its European workforce . The company cited significant losses in recent years driven by weak demand for electric vehicles, a lack of government support for the shift toward electric vehicles and greater industry competition. Nvidia — Shares dipped 1% ahead of the chipmaker’s fiscal third-quarter results due after market close. Analysts polled by LSEG expect Nvidia to post earnings of 75 cents per share on about $33.16 billion in revenue, or more than 80% revenue growth compared to a year ago. AppLovin — Shares popped 4.8%. Piper Sandler initiated coverage of the mobile app developer with an overweight rating. The firm set a price target implying the stock has upside of nearly 25% ahead , even after it already surged more than 700% in 2024. Target — Shares plunged more than 21% after the big-box retailer disappointed on third-quarter earnings and revenue estimates and cut its full-year guidance, just three months after raising that forecast. Target reported only a slight uptick in customer traffic as CEO Brian Cornell noted “lingering softness in discretionary categories.” Delta Air Lines — Shares of the carrier dipped less than 1% even after the firm forecast revenue growth in mid-single-digit percentage points next year, in line with analysts’ estimates. Delta said sales would grow in 2025, citing a “resilient economy” for strong travel demand and credit card spending, especially for higher-end offerings. It also said it expects to grow earnings in the coming years. The stock has gone up about 60% this year. Robinhood — The trading platform’s shares advanced more than 3% after Needham upgraded its rating to buy from hold on Robinhood. Elsewhere, the company said it is planning to acquire TradePMR , a custodial platform for registered investment advisors, in a roughly $300 million deal that is expected to close in the first half of 2025. Lemonade — The insurance stock popped nearly 15% following an upgrade at Morgan Stanley to equal weight from underweight. The firm cited Lemonade’s “ambitious” goal of growing its business and its charted path to net profit positive exiting 2027 for the call. Keysight Technologies — Shares jumped more than 6% after the electronics test and measurement equipment company topped Wall Street expectations for the fiscal fourth quarter. Keysight also gave an upbeat outlook for the current quarter, anticipating adjusted earnings of $1.65 to $1.71 per share. That is better than the $1.57 in earnings per share that analysts were expecting, per FactSet. Super Micro Computer — Shares dropped nearly 8%, taking back some of Tuesday’s gains of more than 31%. Shares of the struggling server maker bounced in the previous session after Super Micro announced it hired BDO as its new auditor and said it submitted a plan to Nasdaq detailing how it will comply with the exchange’s listing requirements. Dolby Laboratories — Shares jumped more than 14% after the audio technology company gave quarterly results that beat Wall Street estimates. Dolby earned 61 cents per share in its fiscal fourth quarter, higher than analysts’ forecast of 45 cents per share, according to FactSet. Dolby also raised its quarterly dividend by 10% to 33 cents per share, payable Dec. 10. Qualcomm — Shares slid 6% even after the semiconductor company provided new five-year financial targets on Tuesday that aim to generate an additional $22 billion in annual revenue by 2029 . Qualcomm also detailed a plan to generate $4 billion in revenue for industrial chips and a $2 billion sales target for its chips that are used in virtual and augmented reality headsets, alongside other goals. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Brian Evans, Sean Conlon, Yun Li and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.