The first day of the China AI Innovation Study Tour in Shanghai provided a deep introduction to how artificial intelligence (AI) and digital ecosystems are shaping finance, commerce and public life. Delegates visited CloudWalk Technology, Douyin (ByteDance), and ZhongAn Insurance, three companies that represent different but complementary dimensions of China’s innovation landscape. The morning began at CloudWalk Technology, one of China’s leading AI companies and the first in the sector to list publicly. CloudWalk presented its CloudWalk OS, an operating system for AI that integrates hardware, algorithm factories and data resources into a unified platform. The company described three stages in its evolution: first, the use of AI in singular applications like facial and vehicle recognition; second, its integration across scenarios such as banking, airports, and urban security; and finally, the development of generalised models applicable across industries. CloudWalk highlighted how its solutions underpin financial services — with biometric KYC already processing billions of verifications daily — and public security, where its systems have supported the solving of tens of thousands of cases nationwide. The company also showcased its work in detecting deepfakes and AI-generated fraud, as well as its role in powering smart cities through traffic management and crowd monitoring. In the afternoon, delegates visited Douyin, ByteDance’s Chinese short-video and e-commerce platform. Douyin outlined its scale, noting more than 1.67 billion global users across Douyin and TikTok, including over 1 billion outside China. What stood out most was the platform’s success in transforming retail: in 2023, Douyin’s livestream commerce generated RMB 2.7 trillion (about $380 billion) in gross merchandise value (GMV), placing it among the world’s largest e-commerce ecosystems. The company explained how its AI-driven recommendation system underpins engagement, and how its Volcano Engine data infrastructure supports merchants and advertisers. It also described how Douyin adapts to local markets internationally, from Southeast Asia to Europe, by tailoring both content and commerce strategies. The scale of this model has allowed ByteDance to extend well beyond entertainment, making Douyin a driver of both cultural and commercial influence. The final session of the day was with ZhongAn Insurance, China’s first online-only insurer, established by Ant Group, Ping An and Tencent. ZhongAn presented its fully digital operating model, which serves more than 500 million customers and has issued over 10 billion policies annually across diverse categories such as health, pet, and travel insurance. The company emphasised its strength in health insurance, which accounts for a large share of revenue, and its innovation in offering micro-protection products, for example, insurance embedded into ride-hailing services and e-commerce journeys. ZhongAn explained how its cloud-native core insurance system enables rapid product design and launch, sometimes within days, and how its distribution is deeply integrated into China’s digital platforms like Alibaba, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book). The company also shared its international expansion into North and Southeast Asia where it provides both insurance and technology solutions. The day concluded with a walk along Shanghai’s Bund, where delegates saw the city’s unique juxtaposition of colonial-era heritage and futuristic skylines. The welcome dinner at Michelin starred Lost Heaven provided an opportunity to reflect on the first impressions: AI as infrastructure with CloudWalk, AI as culture and commerce with Douyin, and AI as finance with ZhongAn, with some of the speakers.
