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Ant Group
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Chinese fintech giant Ant Group sets up AI unit led by former Google researcher

  • The new unit, called NextEvo, will drive and coordinate Ant’s core AI efforts, according to people familiar with the matter
  • Beijing has been relaxing some restrictions on Ant’s businesses after the Hangzhou-based company took several steps to restructure

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Ant Group has set up a new AI unit, according to people familiar with the matter. Photo: Reuters
Ben Jiangin Beijing
Ant Group, the Chinese fintech giant affiliated with Alibaba Group Holding, has set up a new artificial intelligence (AI) unit led by a former engineer at Google, demonstrating its ambitions in applying the fast-developing technology to its expanding business.

The new unit – called NextEvo and headed by Xu Peng, a vice-president of engineering at Ant – will drive and coordinate the fintech powerhouse’s core AI efforts, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss internal developments.

The news was first reported by Chinese online media outlet 36Kr. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Ant’s increased AI efforts come at a time when most major Chinese tech companies are investing in large language models (LLMs) – the technology that underpins ChatGPT and similar AI chatbots – and exploring ways to boost growth through innovations in the area.

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NextEvo will be in charge of Ant’s own LLM, Bailing, as well as AI algorithms and engineering, natural language processing (NLP) and AI-generated content operations, sources said.

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