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Alibaba AI Books Flights via Chat
23 Apr
Summary
- Qwen AI enables direct booking of China Eastern flights through natural language.
- The AI can handle ticketing, seat selection, and check-in via chat interface.
- This partnership marks the first commercial use of Alibaba's agentic AI technology.

Alibaba's Qwen AI app has integrated with China Eastern Airlines, enabling users to book flights directly through natural-language commands. This partnership represents the first commercial application of Alibaba's agentic AI technology.
Users can now interact with Qwen via chat to find and book flights, handle ticketing, select seats, and even check in for their flights. The AI also offers to calculate commute times and arrange car bookings based on real-time traffic conditions.
This initiative is part of Alibaba's strategy to develop Qwen into a versatile platform for services, transactions, and proactive user support. The company believes this new AI capability will stimulate novel forms of consumer demand.
The integration comes shortly after Starbucks piloted a similar feature within OpenAI's ChatGPT, suggesting a broader trend of AI chatbots expanding into transactional services.