tech

Millie Giles11/27/25

Alibaba unveils its first AI glasses, taking on Meta directly in the wearables race

Retail and tech giant Alibaba launched its first consumer-ready, AI-powered smart glasses on Thursday, marking its entrance into the growing wearables market.

Announced back in July, the Quark AI glasses just went on sale in the Chinese retailer’s home market, with two versions currently available: the S1, starting at 3,799 Chinese yuan (~$536), and the G1, at 1,899 yuan (~$268) — a considerably lower price than Meta’s $799 Ray-Ban Display glasses, released in September.

The gadget — complete with translucent display lenses, cameras, microphones, and swappable batteries — is integrated with Qwen AI models (Alibaba’s version of ChatGPT, per CNBC) and linked via the company’s revamped Qwen app, allowing users to control the device with their voice.

While adoption remains relatively limited, the smart glasses space has been dominated by Meta’s efforts, though tech giants like Apple, Google, and Snap have also all made forays into augmented reality wearables. Now, following strong Q2 results and the relaunch of its chatbot earlier this week, Alibaba is embedding AI into its consumer products, not content with being China’s leading cloud service and an e-commerce giant.

Though still small, the wearables sector is growing rapidly, CNBC writes, with shipments of AI glasses expected to exceed more than 10 million units by 2026, double this year’s count, according to a forecast from Omdia.

Alibaba's AI glasses to rival Meta go on sale for $500

Alibaba's AI glasses to rival Meta go on sale for $500

The gadget — complete with translucent display lenses, cameras, microphones, and swappable batteries — is integrated with Qwen AI models (Alibaba’s version of ChatGPT, per CNBC) and linked via the company’s revamped Qwen app, allowing users to control the device with their voice.

While adoption remains relatively limited, the smart glasses space has been dominated by Meta’s efforts, though tech giants like Apple, Google, and Snap have also all made forays into augmented reality wearables. Now, following strong Q2 results and the relaunch of its chatbot earlier this week, Alibaba is embedding AI into its consumer products, not content with being China’s leading cloud service and an e-commerce giant.

Though still small, the wearables sector is growing rapidly, CNBC writes, with shipments of AI glasses expected to exceed more than 10 million units by 2026, double this year’s count, according to a forecast from Omdia.

More Tech

Despite a massive surge in corporate AI spending, the technology is broadly failing to deliver the massive cost reductions executives had anticipated, according to a new global survey from Bain & Co. shared with Bloomberg. The largest share of major companies measuring their AI returns — 40% — realized cost savings of 10% or less, with poor access to internal data cited as the primary roadblock. Most had expected higher returns. More concerningly, Bain warned that many companies are using their original, overly optimistic projections — rather than their actual savings — to justify funding their next wave of expensive AI investments, creating a “circular bet with a structural leak.”

Meta thinks it can save its hardware division with AI subscriptions. There are reasons to be skeptical.

An $8 AI subscription won’t plug a $19 billion hardware hole.

A visitor is seen trying a Ray-Ban Meta glasses at a Meta

tech

Anthropic confidentially files for IPO

Anthropic has filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering. The IPO is expected to be one of the largest in US history, and will likely be joined by OpenAI, which is also expected to go public before the end of the year.

The company filed a draft S-1 form with the SEC, which does not indicate the price of the offering. The official public S-1, which will come later, will give potential shareholders a first look at the finances of Anthropic, which just last week announced that it raised $65 billion, reaching a valuation of $965 billion. This puts the company well ahead of archrival OpenAI, which is currently valued at $850 billion.

Anthropic confidentially submits draft S-1 to the SEC

Anthropic confidentially submits draft S-1 to the SEC

tech

Prosus may thwart Uber’s bid for Delivery Hero

Uber’s aggressive pursuit of Delivery Hero could hit a major roadblock. After the European food delivery giant rejected Uber’s initial $11.6 billion buyout offer, the American company pivoted, scooping up a 37% stake in the open market.

Now, Prosus, formerly Delivery Hero’s largest shareholder, is plotting a counteroffensive.

Thanks to an EU regulatory waiver Monday that temporarily pauses its mandatory stock sell-down, the Amsterdam-based investment firm is reportedly looking to either increase its stake or rally other shareholders against Uber. The goal: block the takeover entirely or force a significantly higher premium.

Prosus has warned about the loss of European tech relevance if a US giant swallows the company. Meanwhile, investors are loving the drama: the takeover tug-of-war, which also includes DoorDash, has sent Delivery Hero stock soaring over 75% in the past month.

Uber faces Prosus challenge in Delivery Hero pursuit

Uber faces Prosus challenge in Delivery Hero pursuit

Thanks to an EU regulatory waiver Monday that temporarily pauses its mandatory stock sell-down, the Amsterdam-based investment firm is reportedly looking to either increase its stake or rally other shareholders against Uber. The goal: block the takeover entirely or force a significantly higher premium.

Prosus has warned about the loss of European tech relevance if a US giant swallows the company. Meanwhile, investors are loving the drama: the takeover tug-of-war, which also includes DoorDash, has sent Delivery Hero stock soaring over 75% in the past month.

tech

Tesla sales surge in European markets in May

Tesla sales surged across Europe in May, Reuters reports, with sales jumping double and even triple digits in a number of early-reporting markets. Of course, 2025 was a very difficult year for Tesla sales in Europe, so the growth is coming off notably small denominators.

Interestingly, the resurgence is happening without EU approval for supervised Full Self-Driving, something CEO Elon Musk predicted would cause sales to “improve significantly” after blaming the absence of the tech for its weak sales.

The company has received approval for a version of its FSD tech in the Netherlands, as well as Lithuania and Estonia, and expects “EU-wide” permission in the second or third quarter.

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