Is China's AI ready to transform consumer connections?
The AI revolution is well underway around the world. Whether it’s the capability to diagnose illnesses at very early stages, the pope fitted out in high end Catholic couture, or the predictions of ‘nuclear level catastrophe’ that AI will bring us – these projects will heavily influence all our futures. Yet compared with ChatGPT the launch of similar AI projects in China has been underwhelming, highlighted by AI-leader Baidu’s ErnieBot reception.
But with concerns over AI in the west threatening to slow down its progress (many tech leaders are calling for a 6-month moratorium on any further development) China will only accelerate its investment to catch-up and surpass in AI technologies. Just this week researchers in Wuhan gave full control of an imaging satellite to an AI algorithm in a ‘rule breaking’ experiment, the biggest PR agency in China announced “indefinitely” ending any hiring of third-party copywriters and designers as it moves over to AI tools, and Alibaba unveiled its own AI project Tongyi Qianwen.
There are lots of exciting initiatives underway right now. Pinduoduo has sponsored an AI lettuce-growing lab, using AI to monitor soil, sun and water to efficiently use the minimum viable resources to grow a healthy crop. The first AI virtual influencer Du Xiaoxiao could signal hope to brands eager to take advantage of this trend but baulk at the costs and timelines involved in creating and running a virtual influencer.
Even in China’s well-documented struggling romantic landscape AI provides hope. There has been significant growth in Chinese users looking to AI chatbots as partners, finding the emotional and romantic support that eludes them in their normal lives. Forums are growing with users discussing their digital lovers – when they are “over six feet tall, an Aquarius, have six-pack abs, a literature degree from the University of Cambridge” and retain an encyclopaedic knowledge of every piece of information on the internet, you can see the appeal.
At China Skinny we are particularly interested in how these companies with treasure troves of consumer data and China’s comparably lax privacy restrictions will alter the marketing process and the consumer journey. With these internet giants often owning or heavily invested across ecommerce platforms, social media channels, offline advertisers and retail stores you might soon get advertised the exact product you need before you’ve even realized it.
It will be some time before AI overhauls the way we reach consumers, but we are already seeing opportunities for brands up-to-speed in China’s AI infrastructure. To help navigate this increasingly complex marketing environment get in touch with China Skinny today.
