Alibaba is bringing artificial intelligence to the cloud

Aliyun, the cloud computing unit of Alibaba Group, is launching an artificial intelligence platform that it claims is the first in China. Called DT PAI, the service combines algorithms used by Alibaba with machine and deep learning techniques and presents them in a simple drag-and-drop interface. Aliyun says developers can use DT PAI to predict user behavior without having to write new code. While the bulk of Alibaba Group’s revenue still comes from its e-commerce business, it has been investing heavily in cloud computing. In July, Alibaba announced that it had pumped $1 billion into Aliyun with the goal of expanding into global markets, including Southeast Asia (where it recently opened a data center in Singapore), the Middle East, and the U.S. As China deals with economic uncertainties, cloud computing is a potential bright spot for Alibaba. In its otherwise lackluster second-quarter earnings report, Alibaba said that quarterly revenue from its cloud computing and Internet infrastructure business jumped over 106 percent year-over-year to $78 million.