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Dialogue with Wu Jia from Alibaba: Quark is a natural super-intelligence

Written by

Silas Grey

Updated on:July-09th-2025

The future is that AI uses tools and people use AI.

At the beginning of 2023, Wu Jia, president of Alibaba Intelligent Information Business Group, discovered a difficult problem that could not be perfectly solved at the time.

As the number of Quark users increased, user needs began to become more complex. For example, students and white-collar workers would use large models to write articles, but the model's capabilities were limited at the time, and the essays and reports directly generated by AI did not meet the standards at all. The Quark team had to manually abstract the workflow for the model, forcing the model to interact with users in the order of outline-data retrieval-writing.

"It's painful. We can only abstract the workflows one by one, but such scenarios are endless," Wu Jia told 36Kr.

More than a year later, AI technologies such as Deepthink swept in, and the gap between product demand and technology realization was finally filled. Faced with the ever-changing workflow, Quark also handed in an answer sheet - on March 13, Alibaba announced the official launch of its AI flagship application "New Quark".

This time, Quark's comprehensive upgrade focuses on the "super frame", which is an attempt to go beyond the traditional search form. Wu Jia called it "completely abandoning the concept of traditional search."

The "super box" that Quark wants to make is not a ChatBot or a search engine, but a "super agent" that can directly deliver results. You express your intention in this "box", and AI will use all available tools and methods to directly help you write a work report, travel plan, or a medical guide.

People, tools (AI), tasks, Quark "Super Frame" attempts to reshape the relationship between these three. In this regard, Wu Jia's core concept is: "AI uses tools, and people use AI."

“Many people say that in the AI era, all products need to be redesigned. In fact, the real meaning is that in order to make AI use tools better, these tools need to be redesigned.”

Wu Jia gave an example: previous AI agents were more about imitating humans. They would open a browser, enter text, and search one by one. But if we redo it, the "browser" interface would not even exist. We could directly call the API, and AI could also use multiple tools such as search engines and documents at the same time.

The "superframe" is to integrate multiple AI "atomic capabilities" of Quark - AI search, AI browser, AI writing, AI presentation, AI PPT, AI health assistant, multi-terminal collaboration tools, etc., all of which are internalized into the capabilities of the superframe. In the future, the "superframe" will also become a super portal, linking with more businesses within the Alibaba system and becoming an open ecosystem.

Quark's "AI Search" and "AI Problem Solver" provide a new "deep thinking" experience

After the release of "Super Frame", it caused a huge response on the C-end user side and also stimulated more industry discussions: on the one hand, it means that Alibaba has finally made a big bet in To C products, which is an important part of the giant's AI strategy; and "Super Frame" carries a new AI product form that is more in line with future evolution.

Zhu Xiaohu, a well-known investor and managing director of GSR Ventures, mentioned in a recent interview: "Quark's iteration speed is very fast and it is very pragmatic. I have been paying attention to Quark since it came out. It is a young force in Alibaba. I think Alibaba's use of Quark as a breakthrough point for the C-end is a very good layout."

This sense of contrast also comes from its previous low profile. Since its launch, Quark has hardly done any large-scale publicity. It was not until it was upgraded to become the strategic core of Alibaba's AI To C that many people realized that it was already a product with more than 200 million users.

According to Qimai data, Quark's cumulative downloads exceeded 370 million in 2024. The latest data shows that Quark's monthly active users have exceeded 200 million and are still growing rapidly.

In fact, in order to adapt to the overall strategy of AI To C, related businesses have also completed several rounds of organizational adjustments in recent months. In 2024, the Intelligent Connectivity Business Group to which Tmall Genie belongs will be managed by Wu Jia, and Tongyi's C-end products will be integrated into the Intelligent Information Business Group where Quark is located.

Wu Jia is a young executive of Alibaba born after 1985. After graduating from Zhejiang University in 2010, he joined Alibaba through campus recruitment. In the past 15 years, he has worked in Alibaba Cloud Search Products, UC Business Unit, Intelligent Information Business Group, Taobao, and then returned to the group. He now leads Alibaba's AI To C business.

In the Alibaba system, Wu Jia has accumulated rich front-line experience in production and research, has the strategic thinking to lead the business to continuous growth, and knows how to combine the technologies and products within the jurisdiction into the best business form. A person close to Alibaba told 36Kr that Wu Jia is decisive, dares to cut off businesses that are not worth doing, and is good at getting results in business.

The Alibaba Intelligent Information Business Group led by Wu Jia includes a variety of businesses including Quark, Tongyi App, UC Browser, Shuqi Novels, and Super Huichuan. The Intelligent Internet Business Group has Tmall Genie as its core product.

After taking over the UC business unit, he led the early positioning and development of Quark. In 2018, in the search market that had become a red ocean, Quark quickly took over a place with its minimalist, fast and clean product style.

This is also the first time that Wu Jia has accepted an interview and shared Quark's ideas and vision.

The following is the full text of the conversation, edited by 36Kr:

Say goodbye to traditional search

36Kr: In 2020, you said: "We must dare to define intelligent search for the future. This is not about transforming old searches into new ones, but about defining products for the future."

When it comes to the current “super box” product, many users’ first reaction may be: this is still a search box. What is the difference in the connotation of your current “box”?

Wu Jia: The super box we defined can be understood as the interface for the super intelligent agent to interact with users. Search is just one of the tools used by AI.

We hope that in the future, “AI uses tools, and people use AI.” The capabilities of SuperFrame far exceed those of traditional search.

The industry has different perceptions of the concept of "AI search". When we discuss internally, we always put double quotes around the word "search" in AI search, because it is not the same thing as search.

36Kr: One of your posters this time has the text “Say Goodbye to Search”, how do you understand it?

Wu Jia: Super Frame is more than just search. Search is just a means for me to complete the task, not the end.

Users don’t need to care whether they use search or not. Calling the “super box” AI search is an understatement.

36Kr: Can I understand that this is a more tool-oriented positioning?

Wu Jia: We tend to help users solve real problems, but I don’t want to define Quark as just a practical “tool”.

There is no such thing as absolute idle chat, nor is there such a thing as absolute practicality. There are a lot of people in China. Do most people need to think deeply in their work scenes every day? Not necessarily, but they will have many needs in daily life.

For example, users will ask us questions like "Why does my mother love my sister more?" Users need both emotional comfort and certain suggestions on how to deal with this problem. Similarly, users also need to write PPTs in their studies and work.

The core positioning of Quark is to become a useful AI product that serves the vast majority of users. There is a difference between being useful and being practical. We will clearly tell users that we are your all-around assistant in life, work, and study, and we can work 24 hours a day without getting tired or complaining.

36Kr: Everyone is making assistants, what is the differentiation of your products?

Wu Jia: Quark is a natural super-intelligence. The way it provides services to users is through the super frame, leading model PLAN and the ability to correctly select tools and reference materials, plus comprehensive content and tools accumulated over the years, such as: search, browser, network disk, scanning, taking pictures, etc., and these tools have undergone years of large-scale verification and optimization of real user needs. These are all our huge advantages.

So Quark is a super portal. For example, if I want to make an academic report or write an industry analysis today and I have a lot of information stored in the network disk, I can tell Super Frame to retrieve and use these materials. Other products cannot do this.

36Kr: In one sentence or a few keywords, how would you label “Super Frame”?

Wu Jia: First, smart; second, professional; third, omnipotent.

36Kr: You just mentioned “universal”, does that mean universal?

Wu Jia: I think it can do a lot of things and achieve "All in One". All needs can be implemented and solved within this framework. Omnipotence is a very important characteristic in the AI era.

We hope that this framework can serve a universal population. When I say "versatile", I mean not only that it can be used to write academic reports - only a few people will use academic reports, but it can also be used for travel planning - it is a tool that everyone can use.

36Kr: The “super frame” is currently still a frame mainly for text input. Will it change in the future?

Wu Jia: It will change. Users will only need to issue commands in the future, and we can handle multi-modal tasks.

From the user's perspective, it means "if it's hard to describe, take a photo; if it's hard to type, use voice." The user's input method can be diverse, and we must have the ability to process multimodal data.

36Kr: To put it extremely, will it eventually "kill" search?

Wu Jia: I don’t think so. Traditional search will be part of the super frame. There are always some scenarios that are very direct and can be satisfied by short searches. When searching for Taobao, you always have to go to Taobao, and when searching for weather, you have to give me the weather conditions. These needs do not require much in-depth thinking.

However, the traditional search engine model is no longer needed, and these needs will be taken over by the super frame form.

How to build a super frame

36Kr: Another concept you’re focusing on this time is “Super Frame”. In order to achieve this “All in One” capability, how big of a change do you need to make?

Wu Jia: Many products need to be remade using AI. Many people are saying this, but what we really mean is that many products need to be remade in order for AI to use them better.

The usage scenarios in the future will be that people use AI, and AI uses tools.

So for Quark, using a super frame to link all the tool capabilities within Quark and the services provided by partners to solve the needs of various users in a smart and professional manner is the super frame we want to achieve.

36Kr: How did you come up with the idea of “letting AI use tools” to reconstruct rather than imitating human operations?

Wu Jia: First of all, the model is now very powerful. It can plan autonomously and reflect and iterate during execution to achieve the correct results. This completely solves the problem that the previous way of developing workflows could not cover all scenarios.

By the beginning of 2023, we had already discovered a large number of complex demands on Quark, such as long-form writing.

But at that time, the big model was still relatively weak, so we abstracted the workflow and forced the model to write an outline first and show it to the user. After the user sees the outline, he needs to search for information. After the search is completed, we let the model rewrite the content based on the information.

We also created a material library specifically for users. Users have given very good feedback on this scenario. They think it is great because they can not only see the writing results, but also understand the writing ideas.

But this workflow design was very painful. At that time, we could only do some basic workflows and could not exhaust all possible scenarios. But after the model capabilities improved, the model would plan, give ideas, and then execute them by itself. This is a completely different experience.

Secondly, as the Super Frame becomes a super portal, various tools and applications will actively adapt to the Super Frame, thus forming standards and business models for how to interact with the Super Frame.

36Kr: What standards do you think a true agent needs to meet?

Wu Jia: The ability of logical reasoning, end-to-end real-time interaction, and memory ability, such as long memory and short memory, must be combined.

Recently, we have made some breakthroughs in the deep thinking capability of the Superframe. The next step is to combine multimodal capabilities with deep thinking so that the Superframe can perform more complex tasks.

How to complete Alibaba's AI mission

36Kr: Do you have any short-term goals?

Wu Jia: This year, user experience will still be the main focus, and Quark will still need to create sufficient value for users.

36Kr: When I use the Quark Image Recognition function, it jumps to the e-commerce page. When you are making a product, do you need to consider how to connect/link with Alibaba Group's business?

Wu Jia: Various services will be connected behind the “Super Frame”, which is a very important advantage of the group.

We say that Quark is a super agent. AI can use Quark's various atomic capabilities to meet the needs of users in a wide range of scenarios. The group's services are also a type of atomic capabilities.

36Kr: From the perspective of Alibaba Group, what are your expectations for the AI product Quark?

Wu Jia: The Group has always required Quark to achieve greater user value, and everything else will come naturally. Our goal has always been to become the leading "super portal" in the AI era, allowing Quark to reconstruct the way people interact with information and tasks through the "AI super frame" and become an "all-round assistant" covering work, study, and life. This portal not only integrates the latest capabilities of the Tongyi series of large models, but also becomes Alibaba's benchmark for the C-end in the AI era, allowing AI to be implemented on the user side as a "ubiquitous service."