How Alibaba keeps AI agents under human control – Winston Ma

 

Winston Ma

US-developed AI agents got into big trouble as they went rogue. Innovation expert Winston Ma looks at the situation in China, especially Alibaba’s AI platform Accio, and how they make sure human control has the last say on how the AI agents work; he writes at FirstPost.

Winston Ma:

Why bounded authority works

Finding suppliers, comparing quotes and preparing compliance paperwork once took a small business weeks. The agent now does it continuously, within limits the buyer sets. The point at which the business becomes bound stays with a person, so the questions that matter have clear answers: whose deal it is, what the agent was allowed to do, and who catches a mistake before money moves.

The international legal framework points the same way. UNCITRAL’s 2024 Model Law on Automated Contracting recognises contracts formed through automated systems, while making clear that automation does not excuse non-compliance with other legal requirements. The networks’ operator-linked agent credentials and Accio’s approval gate serve one principle at two layers of the same transaction: an agent acts only within authority that a known party has granted and stands behind.

Next: Portable proof of authority

Today the approval record lives inside one platform. As suppliers deploy agents of their own, the next generation of tools should let that record travel, so the other side of a deal can verify what a buyer’s agent was authorised to do. Cross-network identity frameworks are the natural foundation.

Confidentiality is a second design frontier. Alibaba says its agent can use the best terms from one supplier as a reference point in talks with others, a powerful feature that needs care where quotes are confidential.

Three steps would accelerate progress:

1. Businesses should write down each agent’s mandate and keep human approval at binding terms and payments.
2. Platforms should build review screens that show what changed, and flag confidential supplier terms before an agent reuses them.
3. Policymakers should make agent identity interoperable across networks and borders, so that trust built in one ecosystem is recognised in another.

Who signs

The race in agentic commerce is often framed as a contest over autonomy. The more durable advantage is provable authority: who the agent is, what it is allowed to do, and who stands behind the commitment.

That combination can give a small importer in Lagos or Ho Chi Minh City the leverage of a large trading house: months of sourcing work done in hours, with the commitment still its own. Payment networks are building ways to verify who an agent is and whom it represents. Accio shows what comes next: agents that do the work, and people who sign. Together, they give AI agents what agency law has always asked of human ones.

The full story at FirstPost.

Winston Ma is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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Influencers become an endangered species in online shopping – Ashley Dudarenok

 

Ashley Dudarenok

Online shopping used to be a fast-growing retail segment in Chna, but growth is dropping, says consumer expert Ashley Dudarenok at Asia One. Influencers feel the pressure after they have been winner for the past years now AI is gaining pace, she adds.

Asia One:

The industry is grappling with a weaker consumer environment, where retail sales rose just 0.4 per cent in August on the year, down from July’s 0.6 per cent, while growth of 1.1 per cent over the first eight months of 2026 reflected sluggish household spending.

Yet livestreaming has reshaped China’s shopping habits, with online retail sales exceeding 36 per cent in 2025, up from less than 18 per cent in 2021.

“It is still growing, but the growth is a lot more difficult,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of digital consultancy Chozan.

“Merchants need to compete a lot harder for customers’ wallets … and the expectations of customers are as high as ever, but the budgets are lower.”…

The debate is also playing out among regulators and consumers. Rules for clear labelling of AI-generated content took effect in September 2025, while ByteDance-owned Douyin – China’s version of TikTok – has banned fully AI-generated livestreams and requires disclosure of the use of digital hosts.

Backlash has greeted some influencers who revealed that AI avatars were appearing in their place.

“I think a human livestreaming host is sort of an endangered species, but it depends,” Dudarenok said, adding that as AI-generated content becomes more common, consumers may gravitate back toward the authenticity of human hosts.

“I don’t think they’re going to disappear completely, but the less successful hosts … they will have to use better tools or change occupations.”

More at Asia One. 

Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more consumer experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

China shocks and feared technological innovation – Kaiser Kuo

 

Both the US and Europe regularly fear new China shocks and unsettling technological innovations like BYD and DeepSeek. China veteran Kaiser Kuo, host at the renowned Sinica Podcast, discusses China’s position in the fast-moving developments that outflank its global competitors at Renewable Matter.

Renewable Matter:

Returning to the shocks that Americans, but also Europeans, are still experiencing every time China overtakes them in some cutting-edge sector such as renewables, electric cars (BYD) or AI (DeepSeek), what will be the next major shock we should expect?

If only I knew, so I could invest in it! One thing is clear, though: China is investing heavily in nuclear fusion. We are likely to witness breakthroughs in new materials, battery chemistry and quantum computing. But the biggest advances will probably come from the life sciences and biotechnology, which receive less attention. China has built a very solid foundation in pharmaceutical discovery: in the past, it merely acted as an external supplier of molecular analysis services on behalf of major Western biopharmaceutical companies. Now, however, many of these Chinese companies are operating independently, and I believe that in the coming years we will see significant pharmaceutical discoveries emerging from China.

The “technological containment” that the United States is trying to impose on China is a policy that cuts across party lines, from Democrats to Republicans. But what do scientists, both Chinese and American, make of this? Is there no hope of achieving constructive scientific cooperation?

I believe that scientists on both sides consider this policy an absolute tragedy. It is a loss for all of humanity that collaboration between the scientific communities of China and the United States – two of the largest, best-funded and most creative in the world – is suffocated by geopolitics. Unfortunately, in the United States, even within the scientific community, many people are still obsessed with national security, convinced that China must be kept away from the most advanced technologies. The debate over which policy is the right one is still ongoing.
In China, however, there is no doubt. They are angry, believing this policy to be fundamentally immoral, but at the same time they believe it has sparked a fuse, forcing scientists and engineers to redouble their efforts towards innovation. And China has indeed achieved considerable progress towards greater self-sufficiency, particularly in the production of semiconductors.

However, if we take AI as an example, China is implementing much stricter regulations than the US. Why, then, are the Americans so afraid of China’s technological development?

I interpret this mainly as a projection: Americans believe that any other power would behave just as they do. Faced with enormous capabilities that would allow a country to aspire to global hegemony, they believe that any nation possessing such technological strength would exercise it immediately. In essence, they think that China would do what they imagine the United States would do. Never thoroughly analysed, this assumption is the basis for much of the paranoia emerging, particularly from Silicon Valley. But I do not think it is a valid hypothesis. In fact, it risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Relating to another country on this basis means demonstrating your own bad faith, proving that you are willing to bring it to its knees. How can anyone think this will not influence their perception? It will generate precisely the kind of hostility that was taken for granted from the outset, but it was their own actions that created it. This, at least, is my interpretation. I would argue that an open and collaborative approach across all these technological frontiers would have significantly reduced China’s propensity to try to exert leverage over the United States.

More at Renewable Matter.

Kaiser Kuo is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more strategic experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

How China’s drone delivery moves on in 2026 – Ashley Dudarenok

 

Ashley Dudarenok

Drone delivery is moving on fast in 2026, writes innovation expert Ashley Dudarenok, author of  Innovation Factory: China’s Digital Playbook For Global Brands, at her website ChoZan, where she analyses the changes drones have made in the logistics of China.

Asahley Dudarenok:

China drone delivery already moves restaurant orders, medical samples, and essential goods along approved aerial routes. Drones connect merchants and institutions with smart lockers, landing stations, and local delivery teams.

As of March 2026, Meituan’s Keeta Drone reported more than 880,000 completed deliveries across 70 routes in cities including Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Those figures describe its combined international network, not mainland China alone.

The commercial significance extends beyond faster takeout. China is building an air-ground logistics layer where software, aviation rules, physical infrastructure, and human couriers work together.

China’s low-altitude economy has grown rapidly, but delivery aircraft represent only one part of its wider drone industry.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China reported more than 4.788 million registered drones and 26.414 million drone flight hours during the first half of 2026. These totals cover all drone categories, including non-logistics applications. They should not be mistaken for delivery-specific figures.

Within that broader system, Keeta Drone says its delivery network serves parks, campuses, offices, residential communities, healthcare facilities, and public spaces. Its platform provides access to more than 160,000 products across its operating regions.

In Shanghai’s Pudong district, a drone delivery covers 5 kilometers in 7 minutes versus 35 minutes by scooter during peak hours. This time compression creates measurable cost advantages for fresh groceries, pharmaceuticals, and prepared meals—categories where speed directly affects product quality and customer satisfaction.

This distinction matters. National drone registrations show industrial depth, while route counts and completed deliveries show actual commercial deployment.

More at ChoZan.

Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more innovation experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

How to read body language of Chinese negotiators – Gabor Holch

 

Reading body language during negotiations is an art and between different cultures it is even harder. Intercultural coach Gabor Holch, author of Dragon Suit: The Golden Age of Expatriate Executives in China, explains how to read hidden signs in negotiations with Asian counterparts on his YouTube channel.

Gabor Holch is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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China’s consumers still queue up for American fast food – Shaun Rein

 

Shaun Rein

Despite geopolitical tensions, China’s consumers still line up for American fast food chains, says Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein in AP. “Despite political tensions between the U.S. and China, Chinese actually still go crazy for American brands,” said Shaun Rein.

AP:

American fast-food companies are expanding their presence in China

Last month, Chinese customers lined up in the rain for the opening of the first Church’s Texas Chicken in Shanghai. Church’s plans at least 600 more across China. Wendy’s says it anticipates opening 1,000 restaurants there over the next decade.

Established players are deepening their reach as well. McDonald’s plans 1,000 new Chinese restaurants this year and 10,000 total by 2028. Burger King, which arrived in China in 2005, says it expects to triple its store count to 4,000 by 2035.

“Despite political tensions between the U.S. and China, Chinese actually still go crazy for American brands,” said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of the Shanghai-based China Market Research Group.

KFC became the first major American fast-food chain to enter mainland China when it opened a Beijing restaurant in 1987. At the time, it was viewed as a premium destination worth taking a date to, Rein said. McDonald’s and Pizza Hut arrived in 1990.

“McDonald’s and KFC were a beacon of health and hygiene compared to what you had in the rest of the market,” Rein said.

China is now KFC’s largest market by far. The Kentucky-born fried chicken chain counts about 13,000 restaurants in China, compared with around 3,750 in the U.S. American brands see room for further growth.e>

More in AP.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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How China’s oil reserves saved the world from even higher prices – Shaun Rein

 

Shaun Rein

China has used its massive oil reserves to prevent oil prices from going further through the roof, says business analyst Shaun Rein. But that might not happen again, he warns in a discussion with David Lin.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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Why there is no AI race between China and the US – Alvin Wang Graylin

 

Alvin Wang Graylin

Alvin Wang Graylin, author of Our Next Reality: Preparing for the AI-powered Metaverse, worked both in China and the US on AI. In a discussion with Nathan B. Jones, his main argument is that both countries are not in an AI race, and the largest misconception is this wrong idea an arms race is developing. Nobody has won the electricity race; the same goes for AI, he argues.

Alvin Wang Graylin is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form,

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