Alibaba’s Qwen App Books China Eastern Flights; Joins $20B-Valued DeepSeek Funding Talks
Alibaba’s Qwen AI app now enables direct flight booking, seat selection, check-in, commute planning and car bookings with China Eastern Airlines, marking its first external partner integration of agentic capabilities. Alibaba also joins funding talks for AI startup DeepSeek’s $300M round at a prospective $20B valuation.
1. Qwen AI App Integrates China Eastern Booking
Alibaba has opened its Qwen AI app’s agentic capabilities to China Eastern Airlines, allowing users to book flights using natural-language commands. Qwen handles ticketing, seat selection and check-in via chat, and can calculate airport commute times and arrange car bookings based on traffic conditions.
2. Participation in DeepSeek Funding Round
Alibaba is in talks to join Tencent in a maiden $300 million funding round for AI startup DeepSeek, targeting a valuation of around $20 billion. While the proposed stake from Tencent could be up to 20%, DeepSeek prefers to limit dilution, and Alibaba’s exact commitment remains under discussion as it seeks to bolster its AI leadership.