In the AI era, DingTalk, Alibaba's workplace collaboration platform, is seizing its chance to redefine global work patterns. Chen Hang (nicknamed "Wuzhao"), DingTalk's founder who left the company four years ago, returned in April 2025 with a radical vision: transforming DingTalk from a human-centric tool into an AI-native operating system.
The Epiphany: AI as the New Work Paradigm Chen realized traditional productivity tools had reached evolutionary limits. "Previous advancements—from offline to cloud, documents to collaboration—were incremental," he noted. AI, however, enables revolutionary change: shifting humans from executors to decision-makers, while AI handles perception, analysis, and execution with near-infinite memory and computational power.
The Overhaul: Dismantling the "Caterpillar" Chen likened DingTalk's transformation to metamorphosis: "Like a caterpillar dissolving into nutrient fluid before becoming a butterfly, we must decompose traditional architectures." Key changes include: 1. **Agent OS**: Launched December 2025, this AI operating system allows AI agents to autonomously manage workflows, connect hardware, and interface with physical world data. 2. **AI Tables**: Redefined as data, workflow, and AI application hubs, these dynamically link enterprise systems (ERP/CRM/OA) and enable predictive analytics. 3. **Physical-World Integration**: Hardware like the A1 recording card (collecting voice data) and AI transcription (97% accuracy across 30+ Chinese dialects) close the data loop.
Execution: Startup Mentality Meets AI Faith Chen enforced rapid iteration: - **Customer-Centric Pilots**: Teams directly engaged users like Mengniu Dairy (voice-based form-filling for workers) and Xi’an Metro (AI-optimized inventory management). - **Flat "Squads"**: 5-6 member teams accelerated decisions, shipping features like AI meeting minutes and million-row spreadsheets within months. - **Talent Filter**: Product managers underwent intense reviews; top performers led critical AI projects.
Results and Vision - Daily AI calls grew 5x year-over-year; enterprise-created AI agents tripled. - "The endgame is unclear, but direction isn’t," Chen admitted, citing parallels to Wong Kar-wai’s improvisational filmmaking. Core focus remains: embedding AI as the primary "worker" across industries—from factory floors to government offices.
For Alibaba, DingTalk’s pivot aligns with CEO Daniel Zhang’s thesis: "If mobile internet birthed trillion-dollar firms, AI will spawn ten-trillion-dollar ones." By prioritizing productivity over incremental features, DingTalk bets its future on becoming the Android of workplace AI.
Comments