Alibaba-Affiliate Ant Group released a new AI-powered healthcare app on June 26, 2025.
Ali Group
BEIJING – The Alibaba-Affiliate Ant Group is doubling healthcare with a new smartphone app, based on artificial intelligence technology the company says can deploy overseas.
This is the latest indication that China-developed AI is building consumer applications quickly. ANT, the operator of the popular Alipay Mobile Payments app, focuses on healthcare for many of its AI development efforts, based on large-scale language models from Deepseek, Alibaba and ANT.
Zhang Junjie, general manager of Alipay’s healthcare business, said the new healthcare app launched on Thursday has an aq, a simple English name, AQ, meaning “answer a question.”
Users can consult with the AI avatar of real health professionals if the situation is severe enough, before obtaining diagnostic appointments or priority access to hospital care, he said. According to ANT, AQ can tap over 5,000 hospitals and nearly 1 million hospitals.
Ant’s focus is currently on the mainland China market, but Zhang said the new app or its technology could be licensed to third parties without specifying a time frame. He said many foreigners in China are already using pilot versions of the app, and ANT plans to release versions of the app in other languages.
From startups to more established companies like Tencent and Ping An Insurance, Chinese companies have long been seeking to leverage the integration of internet, software and healthcare. Over the past few months, US-based tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon.com have also announced progress on AI-powered healthcare tools.
China focuses on large data pools and digitalisation, and according to a report from the Cheung Kong Business School of Business last month, it provides the foundation for AI-powered healthcare capabilities. China’s national health insurance system covers more than 95% of the country’s 1.4 billion people, but it noted that about 70% of hospitals have a digital record-keeping system.
A proven user base
Alipay is one of the two main mobile payment apps in mainland China. In addition to payments, the app can be used to pay for water bills, welcome taxis, and order groceries from Alibaba supermarket chains.
The payment app has also branched out into healthcare over the past decade, with features like allowing users to make digital reservations at one of China’s infamous public hospitals, instead of waiting for tickets.
These Alipay Health-Care services have already reached nearly 800 million users in China, Zhang said.
The standalone AQ app incorporates these features as well as AI-powered features such as physician recommendations, medical report analysis, and personalized medical advice.
Alipay has expanded to users outside China, similar to its mobile payment rival Wechat.
– Fix: This story has been updated to reflect the correct users in China that Alipay Health-Care service has reached.
