Ant Hones Cash Management in $1 Trillion AI-Based Payment System

On a big sales day, you’ll find Kelvin Li in a crowded office packed with screens. From here, his team monitors billions of dollars in real-time cash flow as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s e-commerce platforms dispatch everything—whether robot cleaners, cherries or pianos—across the world. On one wall, an image of a thundercloud streaked with lightning bolts is overlaid with these words: “Strategy is forged on the battlefield.”

The intense atmosphere isn’t only about making sure sales go well. Such events are also a prime opportunity for Li, a senior executive at the global arm of Alibaba’s financial-tech affiliate Ant ...