China’s Ant launches AI-powered health-care app, eyes global expansion

BEIJING — Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group is doubling down on well being care with a brand new smartphone app, based mostly on synthetic intelligence know-how that the corporate says might be rolled out abroad.

It is the most recent signal of how China-developed AI is rapidly constructing shopper functions. Ant, operator of the favored Alipay cell funds app, has centered a lot of its AI improvement efforts on well being care based mostly on massive language fashions from DeepSeek, Alibaba and Ant.

In a telling signal of world aspirations, the brand new health-care app launched on Thursday has an easy English identify — AQ — which stands for “reply your query,” stated Zhang Junjie, basic supervisor of health-care enterprise at Alipay.

Customers can seek the advice of AI avatars of real-life medical specialists earlier than getting precedence entry for a diagnostic appointment or hospital care if the state of affairs is severe sufficient, he stated. AQ can faucet greater than 5,000 hospitals and almost 1 million medical doctors in China, in accordance with Ant.

Whereas Ant’s focus is on the mainland China marketplace for now, the brand new app or its tech might be licensed out to a 3rd get together, Zhang stated, with out specifying a time-frame. He stated many foreigners in China have already used a pilot model of the app, and that Ant plans to launch variations of the app in different languages.

Chinese language firms from startups to extra established firms akin to Tencent and Ping An Insurance coverage have lengthy sought to capitalize on the combination of web and software program with well being care. Within the final a number of months, U.S.-based tech giants akin to Microsoft and Amazon.com have additionally introduced progress on AI-powered health-care instruments.

In China, a big information pool and nationwide emphasis on digitalization have helped present a basis for AI-powered health-care capabilities, in accordance to a report final month from the Cheung Kong Graduate College of Enterprise. It identified that China’s nationwide medical insurance system covers greater than 95% of the nation’s 1.4 billion individuals, whereas about 70% of hospitals have digital record-keeping techniques.

Alipay is likely one of the two main cell funds apps in mainland China. Along with funds, the app can be utilized to pay the water invoice, hail a taxi or order groceries from Alibaba’s grocery store chain.

The funds app has additionally branched into well being care over the past decade, with options akin to permitting customers to digitally make an appointment at one in every of China’s notoriously crowded public hospitals, as an alternative of getting to attend in line for a ticket.

These Alipay health-care providers have already reached almost 800 million customers in China, Zhang stated.

The standalone AQ app incorporates these options, together with AI-powered capabilities akin to physician suggestions, medical report evaluation and customized medical recommendation.

Alipay has expanded to customers exterior China, as has its cell funds rival WeChat.

— Correction: This story was up to date to mirror the right variety of customers in China that Alipay health-care providers have reached.