Prior reports indicated Ant Group doling out $2.9 billion on research in 2023 to drive its artificial intelligence goals. In 2024, Alibaba received a clean chit from the Chinese antitrust regulator after over three years of investigative scrutiny. The regulator fined Alibaba $2.8 billion in 2021, equivalent to 4% of the e-commerce juggernaut's 2019 revenue.