Alibaba is making its move into the wearables market with the upcoming Quark AI Glasses, powered by the company’s in-house AI models. This launch is part of a broader $52.4 billion push into AI and cloud computing, positioning the firm as a serious contender in the next wave of consumer tech.
AI Meets Hardware
The glasses will run on Alibaba’s Qwen large language model and its AI assistant, Quark. While Quark is already available as a mobile app in China, this marks the first time Alibaba is embedding it directly into hardware.
The device promises features such as hands-free calling, music playback, real-time translation, meeting transcription, and a built-in camera. Tapping into Alibaba’s ecosystem, users will also be able to access navigation, make Alipay payments, shop on Taobao, and use travel and mapping services.
Pricing and full specifications have not yet been revealed, but the product is expected to launch in China by the end of 2025.
Competing in the Wearables Market
Alibaba is entering a competitive space. Meta, in collaboration with Ray-Ban, already has its smart glasses on the market, while Xiaomi launched a pair earlier this year.
Where Alibaba could stand out is through ecosystem integration. By blending its AI models with everyday services, the company hopes to make the glasses more than just a gadget—they become an extension of its digital universe.
The Role of Human-in-the-Loop Systems
Behind the sleek hardware lies a critical factor: data quality. AI-powered wearables depend on models that can understand images, interpret context, and respond naturally. Training these models requires enormous amounts of human-labelled data.
This is where human-in-the-loop (HITL) systems come in. Instead of relying on one-time datasets, HITL ensures continuous feedback, where humans refine AI’s decision-making in tricky or ambiguous cases.
Henry Chen, co-founder of Sapien—a company managing global workforces for data labelling—explained that HITL isn’t just simple annotation. It requires judgement, domain expertise, and ongoing evaluation. For example, specialists like doctors or lawyers are often needed for industry-specific AI training.
Building Trust Through Human Contribution
Sapien works with over 1.8 million contributors across 110 countries. To maintain quality, they use peer validation, contributor reputation tracking, and incentive alignment. Sensitive projects, such as corporate IP or medical data, require even stricter oversight under frameworks like SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, and HIPAA.
Automation is changing the data labelling process, but Chen believes human input will remain essential. Tasks involving nuance—such as sarcasm, rare diseases, or niche languages—are areas where AI still struggles without human guidance.
Looking ahead, he predicts contributors will focus more on evaluating AI-generated outputs and creating highly specialised “ground truth” datasets.
More Than Just a Gadget
The Quark AI Glasses aren’t just another wearable—they represent how AI is becoming deeply embedded into consumer hardware. For Alibaba, the glasses symbolize its ambition to expand beyond digital platforms and into physical, AI-driven devices.
At the same time, their success depends on a hidden but vital layer of human expertise that powers the AI models inside them. From annotators refining datasets to experts validating complex outputs, HITL work ensures the technology works reliably in real-world contexts.
In a market where smart glasses could become the next major computing platform, Alibaba’s entry combines software, hardware, and human intelligence into a single vision.
