At the press conference of the National Development and Reform Commission in May, Li Chao, a spokesperson for the commission, introduced that China is accelerating the promotion of the "AI+" initiative, and has laid out national AI application pilot bases in multiple fields such as healthcare, aiming to shorten the cycle of converting AI technology from laboratories to the market.
As a model case, the health AI application "Ant Afu" has attracted much attention. This application was incubated at the National AI Application Pilot Base (Healthcare) in Zhejiang, and has now become an important force in empowering people's livelihoods through AI.
Key Highlights: Data Insights into the Inclusive Value of "AI+ Healthcare"
Scale and Frequent Interaction: Within less than a year of its launch, "Ant Afu" has quickly exceeded 100 million users. In terms of activity, the platform answers more than 10 million health inquiries daily from users across the country, becoming a "private health advisor" for many families.
Precise Access to Medical Inclusivity: Data shows that 55% of "Ant Afu" users are from third-tier and lower cities. This reflects the huge potential of AI technology in bridging the gap in medical resources and expanding access to professional health services, bringing high-quality medical consultation services to more remote or grassroots areas.
Business Functions: The application currently provides comprehensive intelligent services including hospital companion services, auxiliary diagnosis, family doctor follow-ups, health Q&A, physical examination report interpretation, and health record management, and has been implemented in over 10 provinces and cities across the country.
"Anzhaner" and "Ant Afu": Dual Core Driving Collaborative Services
Notably, as a pioneer in this field, the medical AI intelligent entity "Anzhaner", jointly developed by the Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission and Ant Group, has recently become the focus of the World Health Assembly (WHA).
"Anzhaner": Focused on the local Zhejiang area, it has connected to more than 2,000 medical institutions, serving over 200 million people, and has optimized the process of medical treatment (average reduction of 20 minutes in medical time), with a satisfaction rate of up to 98%.
Collaborative Effect: Currently, "Anzhaner" and "Ant Afu" have completed system integration, achieving resource collaboration. The former focuses on optimizing processes within hospital scenarios, while the latter focuses on health consultation and management for the entire population and all scenarios, together contributing to the "Chinese solution" for AI-driven medical inclusivity worldwide.
Policy Guidance: From "Point" to "Plane" AI Healthcare Blueprint
The National Development and Reform Commission clearly stated that in the future, it will continue to improve the supporting elements such as computing power, data, and scenarios, and increase support for the implementation of "AI+". In the next step, relevant departments will continue to promote state-owned enterprises and state-owned enterprises to open up high-value application scenarios, create more industry benchmark applications like "Ant Afu", guide AI to deeply integrate into all aspects of the Healthy China initiative, and make high-quality medical and health resources truly accessible.
