China’s ‘Lipstick King’ touts AI tokens in first for Singles’ Day festival
This is the first time AI token packages have been offered as a major category during Singles’ Day.
China's annual shopping extravaganza, Singles' Day, has introduced a novel addition in 2026 - artificial intelligence (AI) token packages for consumers. This marks the first time that AI tokens have been offered as a significant consumer product category during the festival, which is the world's largest shopping event held on November 11 each year.
Leading live-streamer Austin Li sold 100,000 monthly memberships of Alibaba's QwenWork office AI service within half an hour during a Taobao Live broadcast on November 2. This equates to approximately two trillion AI tokens or units of text processed by AI models.
Analyst Lian Jye Su from tech research firm Omdia stated that Chinese consumers are now increasingly accustomed to using AI productivity tools. Frequent users may run low on credits, making extensive purchases during this sales period a reasonable action. However, it was unclear whether the token plans were discounted from normal prices.
During the live stream, Li inquired about the possibility of using AI to create a digital avatar of himself to interact with fans around the clock. While AI cannot replace Li, Chen Yusen, an Alibaba Group vice-president and CEO of QwenWork, revealed it could assist with everyday tasks, freeing up time for users to spend with their families.
Alibaba's Tmall launched an AI Token Center during the festival, offering consumer token packages from Alibaba Cloud, MiniMax, Moonshot AI, and Z.AI. JD.com also introduced an AI token section, collaborating with companies such as DeepSeek, Z.AI, and ByteDance's Volcano Engine.
Sales of AI token plans from October 1 to October 20 surged 450% compared to the previous month, while sales of AI personal-computer laptops increased by over 300% in the first hour of the November 11 checkout period. Su cautioned that the relatively long expiry periods of the tokens could encourage users to stock up, but warned of potential concerns from consumers due to rapid changes in AI products and the risk of services being replaced or retired.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
