Alibaba will begin API testing of its HappyHorse-1.0 video generation model on April 27, rolling out access through the Alibaba Cloud Bailian platform. Enterprise customers are first in line, by invitation only.
The beta confirms what Alibaba Token Hub (ATH) disclosed two weeks ago: HappyHorse, the anonymous model that topped the Artificial Analysis video arena in early April, is theirs. It sat at #1 on both text-to-video and image-to-video blind voting leaderboards before anyone knew who built it. Alibaba shares jumped as much as 8% intraday after the April reveal.
ATH's Innovation Business Unit runs the project, partnering with Tongyi Lab and Taotian Technology. Zhang Di leads the team. He previously built Kuaishou's Kling video model and rejoined Alibaba late last year.
On text-to-video benchmarks, HappyHorse-1.0 sits roughly 111 Elo points ahead of ByteDance's Seedance 2.0, per the arena. Those numbers come from blind user voting rather than company self-reports, which makes them harder to game.
Timing favors Alibaba. OpenAI recently pulled its Sora video app. ByteDance paused Seedance 2.0 rollout amid copyright disputes with Hollywood studios. Chinese models now fill most of the top of the public video leaderboards.
Commercial release is scheduled for May. Pricing, rate limits, and regional availability haven't been disclosed.
Bottom Line
HappyHorse-1.0 enters invite-only enterprise beta on April 27 via Alibaba Cloud's Bailian platform, with full commercial launch targeted for May.
Quick Facts
- API testing begins April 27, 2026
- Access via Alibaba Cloud Bailian platform
- Enterprise customers invited first
- Commercial release scheduled for May 2026
- Led by Zhang Di, former Kling AI technical lead
