Alipay just opened the doors, well, a crack, on its new AI Open Platform. The invite-only beta gives enterprise developers, merchants, and third-party software vendors the ability to turn their existing mini-programs into AI-callable tools.
This is a company with nearly 1 billion monthly active users.
What the platform actually does
The AI Open Platform lets merchants and institutions plug their services directly into Alipay’s conversational AI interface, called “Abao.” Instead of users tapping through menus to find what they need, they can just talk to the app and the AI will call the right tool automatically.
Existing mini-programs, APIs, and service interfaces can be converted into AI-compatible tools without rebuilding from scratch.
The invite-only testing follows a pattern Alipay has been running for about three weeks. The AI-powered version of Alipay began its own invite-only testing around June 16, 2026. So the AI Open Platform is essentially the developer-facing complement to the consumer-facing AI rollout.
Alipay AI Pay hit 100 million users by February 2026. During a single week that month, the system processed over 120 million transactions.
The crypto-shaped hole in the room
Ant Group has historically been at the center of China’s complicated relationship with digital finance. The company explored blockchain-based solutions for years, particularly in supply chain finance and cross-border payments. That it is now channeling its platform expansion energy entirely into AI, not Web3, reflects a broader prioritization shift happening across Chinese Big Tech.
Why this matters for the broader market
Several blockchain projects have been building AI agent frameworks, the idea that autonomous AI systems could interact with smart contracts, manage wallets, and execute transactions on-chain. Alipay’s approach represents the centralized alternative: AI agents that operate entirely within a closed, permissioned ecosystem.
Alipay can push its AI tools to nearly a billion users through an existing app. Crypto-native AI agent projects are still building their user bases from scratch.
Investors should also track whether Alipay’s AI Pay transaction volumes continue scaling. Processing over 120 million transactions in a single week is already remarkable. If the AI Open Platform multiplies the number of callable services within Abao, those volumes could accelerate further.