Alibaba brings visual AI into food fight with China’s Meituan

[TAIPEI] Alibaba Group Holding is launching a service to help restaurants use artificial intelligence (AI) to showcase interiors, part of a broader effort to compete with Meituan in the Chinese food and dining sector.

Amap, Alibaba’s maps and local services unit, will soon allow restaurants to render 3D images by just uploading videos or photos, according to sources familiar with the matter. The idea is to lower marketing and promotional costs for merchants.

Alibaba plans to offer the technology, based on its visual Wan model, to select businesses for free for a period of time, the sources said, asking to remain anonymous discussing a non-public matter.

Chinese companies are increasingly experimenting with AI to enhance existing businesses and carve out new markets. Amap’s latest initiative signals Alibaba’s effort to expand in a segment dominated by Meituan, the leader in food delivery, reviews and local services such as restaurant bookings.

Alibaba is trying to regain ground in areas such as meal delivery that it lost to its smaller rival in past years, hoping to use AI and a larger financial war chest to claw back market share.

In 2025, China’s e-commerce leader committed dozens of billions of yuan in incentives and subsidies towards its most popular online services to vie with Meituan and JD.com. The three-way battle compressed margins and drew warnings from Beijing.

SEE ALSO

Alibaba, Abu Dhabi set to invest in AI startup MiniMax’s US$600 million IPO

ByteDance, Alibaba keen to order Nvidia H200 chips after Trump green light: sources

Alibaba starts selling Quark AI glasses in China, enters global wearables race

Amap’s new AI-enhanced restaurants service stems from chief executive officer Eddie Wu’s ambition to integrate AI into all of its businesses and use the new technology to drive growth, echoing similar efforts at major tech companies, including Alphabet’s Google and Tencent Holdings. BLOOMBERG