Alibaba's new AI chatbot, Qwen, acknowledged that the company's connections to the Chinese government could pose a security risk for certain Western companies. In a test conducted by a tech publication, when asked if Alibaba Cloud was a security risk, the bot gave a detailed legalistic explanation and conceded it was possible in some scenarios. The chatbot suggested that while Alibaba Cloud could be a viable option for low-risk applications, most security-conscious organizations would likely choose cloud providers based in allied nations for highly sensitive operations. Following the publication of this interaction, Alibaba's shares in Hong Kong saw a modest decline, trading 0.5% lower in late afternoon trading.