E-commerce giant Alibaba is set to overhaul online shopping on Taobao, integrating AI chatbot functionalities. Users will soon interact with AI assistants to find and purchase items, signaling a shift towards conversational commerce.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is preparing an overhaul of how local consumers shop online, betting that the next trend will feel more like chatting with an artificial intelligence chatbot rather than typing keywords into a search bar, according to a source. Users of the company’s flagship AI assistant Qwen – one of the most popular in China – would soon be able to use natural language to “talk” with the chatbot app to find and buy items listed on Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall...