Quark’s rapid ascent comes as Alibaba has transformed the app from a cloud storage and search service into an ‘AI super assistant’
Alibaba Group Holding
‘s revamped
artificial intelligence (AI)
The assistant application called Quark, known for its intuitive design, has outpaced ByteDance’s Douyin to emerge as the top AI app in China during March, highlighting its popularity amongst domestic users.
Quark
at the pinnacle among Chinese AI applications with approximately 150 million monthly active users (MAUs) globally, closely trailed by ByteDance’s
Doubao
and
DeepSeek
, with approximately 100 million and about 77 million users respectively, as reported by Aicpb.com, a website monitoring the popularity of AI products.
The South ChinaMorning Post is owned by Alibaba.
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The site compiles information from Apple and Google’s app stores globally, along with Chinese Android marketplaces, but does not include traffic directly to the chatbot sites. Earlier, Alibaba mentioned that Quark, which offers versions for both mobile devices and computers, boasted a combined user base of 200 million. However, specific figures for individual platforms have yet to be disclosed.
A distinct report published by the American venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz in early March positioned Quark as the sixth most widely used AI application worldwide based on monthly active users (MAU). This ranking placed Quark slightly below Baidu’s AI Search and well behind both OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s AI-boosted Edge browser.
Quark’s quick rise coincides with Alibaba reshaping the application from merely a cloud storage and search tool into an “AI super assistant.” Recently, Alibaba introduced the updated version of Quark, which utilizes their Qwen reasoning models—artificial intelligence systems created to ponder responses before delivering answers, thus fitting well for intricate assignments.
The app features a simple search box. Alibaba said it could help with tasks such as academic research, document drafting, image generation, presentations, medical diagnostics, travel planning, text and image generation and coding.
The extensive array of AI functionalities offered by Quark mirrors a larger pattern seen across Chinese technology companies, which are increasingly equipping their chatbots with various features to transform these platforms into what are known as AI super apps. This shift aims to draw more users in an environment marked by intensifying market rivalry.
To emulate the achievements of its leading app Douyin, which is essentially China’s version of TikTok, ByteDance has rapidly expanded the functionalities of Doubao. This application now supports web searches as well as generating text, images, and even coding content. It appears that ByteDance is currently exploring options for incorporating video creation into the Doubao platform through ongoing tests.
In the meantime, Tencent Holdings has upgraded its Yuanbao chatbot by adding a gallery with multiple AI agents—programs designed to carry out tasks independently for users or systems. Additionally, they have made improvements.
integrated Yuanbao into WeChat
One of the most commonly used applications in China.
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The article initially appeared on the South ChinaMorning Post (www.scmp.com), which is the premier source for news coverage of China andAsia.
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