As China's large model capabilities advance and competition heats up amid a price war, companies are swiftly expanding into diverse application scenarios, particularly in the realms of search and emotional companionship, with notable breakthroughs in voice and multimodal technology.
Search Sector: A Competitive Landscape
A report titled "Emerging Conditions Favorable for the Rise of Search and Emotional Companionship" outlines the current competition among Chinese search players. The AI answer engine, Perplexity AI, has emerged as a leader in the global search sector, attracting around 3 million daily visitors since 2023. This success has driven both new and established Chinese search platforms to actively compete for user traffic.
Products like Kimi, Mita, and Tiangong are gaining traction as they carve out unique features and target audiences, exploring innovative user acquisition and monetization strategies. Since February 2024, all AI search products in China have reported growth in user visits. Notable highlights include Kimi's smart assistant, which saw traffic exceed 4 million weekly visits after its March update, while Mita Search surpassed 2 million weekly visits, and Tiangong AI attracted over 1 million visits weekly.
In this competitive landscape, product differentiation is crucial for user attraction. Here’s how key products are positioning themselves:
- Kimi Smart Assistant: Features an extensive 2 million-word context without loss of quality. The Kimi+ feature, launched on May 6, delivers personalized AI services across five categories: official recommendations, productivity enhancement, writing assistance, social entertainment, and practical living tasks.
- Mita AI Search: Offers ad-free, high-quality search results for quick access to information, with strong semantic understanding, multi-turn conversational support, and voice input capabilities, plus an academic search function for relevant paper retrieval.
- Tiangong AI Search: Combines advanced model capabilities with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, enhancing query understanding and accuracy. It stands out for its semantic comprehension and ability to transition from "information" searching to "knowledge" presentation.
- 360AI Search: Integrates large model features with practical applications, providing four key functionalities: effectively addressing vague inquiries, searching extensive online content, delivering timely responses, and encouraging further exploration through proactive questioning.
Emotional Companionship Sector: Untapped Potential
The emotional companionship sector, established in 2017, focuses on creating custom virtual characters that address users' emotional needs. With AI integration, these products enhance interactivity and immersion. Compared to efficiency-focused AI like ChatGPT, emotional companionship AI holds significant growth potential, allowing users to engage with both custom and designer-created non-playable characters (NPCs) for a more lifelike experience.
These AI-enhanced applications respond naturally to users, fostering emotional connections that mimic real human interaction. While user interaction and engagement are notably high, the market currently lacks standout paid products, raising critical questions about enhancing user experience and developing sustainable monetization strategies.
Approximately 13 key emotional companionship products are available domestically and internationally, primarily in app or web formats. Noteworthy foreign examples include Character AI, Janitor.AI, and Pi.
In summary, the evolving landscape of AI-driven search and emotional companionship products in China illustrates a dynamic competition fueled by innovation and user demand, paving the way for exciting developments in both fields.
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