How Alibaba’s CTO Envisions AI‑Driven Smart Manufacturing and the Future of Digitalized Worlds

At the opening of the Yunqi Conference, Alibaba Group CTO Zhang Jianfeng gave a deep interpretation of the "new" concepts introduced by Jack Ma—new retail, new manufacturing and new technology—arguing that the rise of computing power will accelerate the world’s transition to intelligence.

He emphasized that massive amounts of offline information are still undigitized; as data processing capabilities improve, the entire world will become digital, creating the prerequisite for intelligent applications.

Digitalization will evolve along two dimensions: continuous clustering through technologies such as computer vision (e.g., facial recognition via Alipay, product identification via Taobao’s “Snap‑to‑Buy”), and the exploration of new observation angles using immersive technologies like VR/AR.

When digitized data becomes networked, every object—from electric meters to CNC machines—can be sensed and connected, enabling transformative changes in city management and personal life. The recently announced Hangzhou City Data Brain exemplifies the use of data and AI for societal governance.

Using a golf club as an example, Zhang illustrated the three‑stage vision of smart manufacturing, smart products and smart services: a customized club ordered on Taobao could be produced based on a user’s body data, with embedded sensors recording swing metrics, feeding data back to factories for continuous improvement, and ultimately providing personalized coaching services.

This scenario, once unimaginable in a standardized industrial era, becomes feasible as the internet becomes infrastructure, computing power grows exponentially, and data silos are broken, allowing AI to support complex, end‑to‑end systems—a core focus of Alibaba’s 30‑year technology roadmap.

He further discussed the shift from PC‑centric interaction to screen‑based, voice‑enabled, and eventually natural 3‑D interactions, highlighting the convergence of cloud computing, big data, and AI as the driving forces behind this evolution.

Zhang warned that while digitizing objects is the first step, the next challenge is connecting them at scale (IoT/IOE). For example, scaling from 600,000 city cameras to tens of millions of vehicle‑mounted cameras creates massive data processing demands that only cloud computing can meet.

He described how comprehensive digitalization enables intelligent services: real‑time traffic monitoring, smart grids, and predictive maintenance, all powered by AI‑enhanced data analytics.

Addressing the relationship between new retail, new technology and new manufacturing, Zhang linked Alibaba’s e‑commerce expertise to the concept of “smart manufacturing” (the Chinese “Made 2025” initiative), where personalized, data‑driven production replaces mass‑production.

He outlined a three‑stage pathway: 1) digitize and sense objects; 2) connect them to create a massive intelligent ecosystem; 3) deliver intelligent services such as personalized coaching, leveraging continuous data feedback loops.

Finally, Zhang highlighted the importance of big data and real‑time analytics, noting that the sheer volume of data generated by sensors requires advanced AI algorithms and cloud infrastructure to transform raw data into actionable intelligence across industries, from healthcare to urban management.

He concluded by stressing that computing, data, and AI will reshape our perception of the world and drive the next wave of innovation.