In China, the number of “one-man companies” is exploding thanks to a little help from AI agents.
Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com, told Business Insider that he has seen this growth firsthand, estimating that 30% to 40% of the e-commerce platform’s customers are “independent entrepreneurs.”
Business Insider previously reported on the rise of privately owned businesses (OPCs), which rely on AI tools like agents and vibecoding technology to build businesses without hiring other employees. Some cities in China are luring these startups by offering free housing, free offices and subsidies of up to $720,000.
Zhang said AI agents are helping make this kind of startup possible. He runs Alibaba.com, the Chinese cloud and retail giant’s e-commerce platform that connects buyers and suppliers. Most of our customers are in China, but we are also expanding our customer base in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and other regions.
Private companies face barriers to building their businesses. Tasks such as uploading products to various sites, managing social accounts and responding to customer complaints are “easy for large companies” but difficult for small and medium-sized businesses, Zhang said. These tasks may not be the expertise of small businesses, but they are “essential to success,” he added.
An agent can help you with some of that heavy lifting.
“Rather than replacing humans, they are actually employees of the individual entrepreneur,” Chan said of the AI agents.
Alibaba.com recently launched Accio Work, an AI agent designed for small and medium-sized businesses, including private businesses. It helps businesses manage day-to-day e-commerce operations including customer service, tax compliance, marketing, logistics, product listings, and more.
“They lack support and tax support. And now AI is very easy to use. It’s very easy to implement and it’s very easy to understand that everything will change its perspective. We think they can benefit the most from AI,” Zhang said.
Alibaba.com’s main Accio agent was first launched in late 2024 and now has 10 million monthly active users, the company said.
China’s OpenClaw boom
The rise of OPC is fueled by OpenClaw, an open source AI agent that has become hugely popular in China. The boom sparked a kind of open claw gold rush, spawning eccentric agents who traded stocks and set up blind dates. Many OPCs also use OpenClaw agents to build their businesses.
Zhang says the rise of OpenClaw is helping educate the market about AI agents. Alibaba itself introduced JVS Claw, a mobile app that allows users to more easily install and deploy OpenClaw.
Zhang said that compared to China, users in the US are less educated about OpenClaw and the scene surrounding OpenClaw is smaller. That said, OpenClaw has security and return-on-investment issues, he said, adding that some customers spend “hundreds of US dollars on tokens” and leave when they don’t get the results they want from using an agent.
Rather, it’s important that it’s easy for agents to use, secure and easy for customers to get started, he said.
“When I go to small businesses, I ask them about token economy, cloud, open cloud, all the fancy terms around AI. They’ve probably never heard of it. And what they’re most interested in is how these tools can help me,” Zhang said.
Alibaba faces changes in tariff policy
Alibaba.com and businesses on e-commerce platforms face another major challenge: dealing with ever-changing pricing structures. Zhang first became president of Alibaba.com in 2017 during President Donald Trump’s first term. As policies change, Zhang says it helps to focus on two things: customer service and technology based on supply and demand.
“I’ve learned a lot from technology companies and small businesses because technology changes every day. They teach us what they need and how to best leverage technology to help them on a daily basis,” Zhang said.
“I say the rest is noise,” he added. “Follow all the rules, and we will follow all the rules of the world.”
Any tips? To contact this reporter via email, please specify the following address: rmchan@businessinsider.com, Or send a signal at rosal.13. Use a personal email address, non-work WiFi network, and non-work device. Here’s a guide to sharing your information securely.