Alibaba is currently developing a new verification method that uses selfies to authenticate mobile payments.
Following Microsoft's facial recognition news on their Windows 10 operating system, Alibaba announced that it will also use the method on its payment platform Alipay.
Alibaba CEO Jack Ma unveiled their new "Smile to Pay" technology in Germany during the CeBit exhibition, an annual event for IT giants worldwide.
During his time onstage, Ma whipped out his smartphone and demonstrated the selfie payment verification feature.
Ma's phone showed a white outline of a man's portrait. The Alibaba Chief Executive then positioned his image from the front camera inside the outline and just a few seconds later, the transaction was complete, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
"[Using] online payments to buy things is always a big headache. You forget your password; you worry about security," said Ma, who was an English teacher before he founded Alibaba.
Alibaba's new biometric verification technology is being developed by its own subsidiary, Ant Financial, who also operates the Alipay payment platform.
Alipay currently has over 300 million registered customers and processes about 80 million online transactions per day.
Besides the new selfie-based payment scheme, Ant Financial is also developing another voice-command activated verification method before purchasing online.
Alibaba is one of the world's largest e-commerce company and is already a mammoth in its home country, according to EWeek.
The Chinese online giant sells items and several merchandise on their online stores through their website or mobile apps.
Alibaba and Microsoft are not the only companies who is looking to push facial recognition.
Intel introduced their facial scanning technology called True Key during the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) earlier this year.