On October 23, Quark App launched an AI conversational assistant. Both the AI conversational assistant and AI search function operate as independent pages, allowing users to switch between them at the top of the app’s homepage. Previously, rumors suggested that Alibaba was internally developing “Project C,” led by the core Quark team, with a primary focus on AI conversational assistants. According to information released by Quark, the newly launched AI conversational assistant in Quark is the first tangible outcome of Alibaba’s “Project C.” Contrary to external expectations, “Project C” is not about creating a standalone AI application but rather integrating an AI conversational assistant like Doubao directly into the Quark App. The underlying intention is self-evident: Alibaba aims to compete head-on with ByteDance’s Doubao App in the AI-to-C market.
It is understood that one interpretation of Alibaba’s “Project C” references the “Pac-Man” analogy, where “C” is derived from the classic game. Alibaba’s approach to direct competition is not difficult to comprehend. On one hand, in the field of AI assistants, the domestic market has seen the emergence of several applications over the past year or two, such as Doubao, DeepSeek, Tencent Yuanbao, Kimi, and Wen Xiaoyan. These applications have already amassed substantial active user bases, and their product functionalities and user experiences have become relatively homogeneous, making it increasingly challenging to develop a entirely new application.
On the other hand, in the AI-to-C domain, Quark is already Alibaba’s strongest card. Directly pitting Quark against Doubao increases the likelihood of success. Data from the AI Product Rankings show that in September of this year, Quark and Doubao ranked first and second respectively in the domestic AI application overall rankings, with 151 million and 150 million monthly active users—more than double the user base of other AI assistants like DeepSeek and Tencent Yuanbao. This indicates that the competition in the top tier of the AI application market is primarily between Quark and Doubao.
Previously, Alibaba internally positioned Quark as an AI search tool, primarily for learning and work scenarios. This is because within Alibaba’s Smart Information Business Group, which handles AI-to-C operations, there is another AI assistant application called Tongyi, mainly used for entertainment and emotional companionship scenarios. This product differentiation reflected Alibaba’s understanding of the AI application market at the time: users in learning and work scenarios had a stronger demand for AI search. However, with advancements in AI capabilities and increasing user acceptance of AI assistant applications, many users now rely more on AI assistants in learning and work contexts.
A source close to Quark revealed that user research conducted by Quark found that when retrieving complex information or addressing intricate questions, users often need to switch between search engines and AI assistants. Search engines are better suited for obtaining immediate, verifiable objective information, while AI assistants are ideal for in-depth discussions and personalized, multi-round Q&A sessions. Prior to this, AI search and AI assistants mostly existed as independent products, resulting in a fragmented user experience. By integrating AI search and AI assistant functionalities into a single product, Quark is attempting to bridge this gap. The source emphasized that integrating the AI assistant into AI search is not merely a simple superposition of product features; users can also access functions like AI camera, AI writing, and photo-based problem searches within the chat interface.
According to information released by Quark, the Quark conversational assistant incorporates Alibaba’s latest closed-source Qwen model. It is understood that this closed-source Qwen model has not been publicly released and boasts performance superior to the recently launched Qwen3-Max. Qwen3-Max, unveiled at this year’s Yunqi Conference, has over 1 trillion total parameters and was pre-trained on 36T tokens of data, making it the largest and most powerful base model publicly released in the Tongyi Qianwen family. The Quark team regards this closed-source Qwen model as one of the core competitive advantages of their AI assistant product. Currently, AI assistant products generally face issues such as high hallucination rates and cumbersome information verification processes. Quark is committed to addressing these pain points. To this end, Quark’s algorithm team and the Tongyi Lab have formed a joint research and development group focused on search reasoning and trustworthy generation.
According to the latest news, for the same query, the information provided by Quark’s AI search and AI assistant can complement each other, offering richer content and dimensions compared to single-form products. It is foreseeable that Quark will more aggressively compete for users, and its rivalry with Doubao is bound to intensify.
