* Accio Work targets SMEs with autonomous business

operations

* Accio Work contrasts consumer-driven AI frenzy in China

* Alibaba ( BABA ) separates AI from cloud computing, forms Token

Hub

By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI, March 23 (Reuters) - Alibaba ( BABA ) has

pushed further into the global race for agentic artificial

intelligence, with its international commerce division launching

Accio Work, a plug-and-play "AI taskforce" it says can

autonomously run complex business operations for small and

medium-sized enterprises.

The launch comes amid a boom in China around agentic AI

triggered by OpenClaw, which has consumers ranging from students

to retirees racing to join the "lobster raising" trend,

prompting companies to rush out OpenClaw-based tools and

fuelling mounting security concerns.

Accio Work marks a contrast with the consumer-driven frenzy,

with the company saying it deploys cross-functional AI teams

requiring no coding or setup.

"We distinguish ourselves by being a specialized B2B tool

rather than a generalist platform," Alibaba International Vice

President Kuo Zhang said. "We draw a very clear line at

high-stakes operations ... any action involving financial

transactions, payment execution, or access to private files

requires explicit, granular permission from the user."

The launch comes less than a week after another Alibaba ( BABA ) division

introduced Wukong, an enterprise-focused agentic AI platform

that can coordinate multiple AI agents to perform complex

business tasks, including document editing, spreadsheet updates,

meeting transcription and research, within a single interface.

Alibaba ( BABA ) also said last week it would separate its AI businesses

from its cloud computing arm. The newly formed Alibaba Token Hub

business group, led by Chief Executive Eddie Wu, is the clearest

indication yet that the company is shifting its focus to digital

assistants powered by AI models that use far more tokens - units

of data used to generate language - than traditional Q&A

chatbots.

Zhang said the high-stakes global push to define agentic AI

carries inherent risks that can only be mitigated with

controlled, specialised models that balance automation with

security.

"We believe the greatest risk lies in using horizontal,

generalist models for vertical business tasks. By focusing on

specialized B2B agents and implementing AI alongside human

approval layers, we can deliver the benefits of an autonomous

workforce without the traditional risks associated with

unconstrained AI," he said.