China's AI health drive

THROUGHOUT her first pregnancy, Wang Yifan had lots of questions, which she usually put to renowned obstetrician Duan Tao - or rather, an AI clone of the top Shanghai-based doctor.

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WANG Yifan (R) and her husband check their phones at their home in Shanghai. Renowned obstetrician Duan Tao created a digital double for health-care app AQ.

(AFP)

Duan has created a digital double for healthcare app AQ, which now boasts more than 100 million users in a display of how high-tech parts of China's medical sector have become.

A state-driven digitisation, aiming to inject efficiency into the overstretched healthcare system, has been underway for over a decade.

But with rapid developments in AI and robotics, the government, companies and practitioners see an opportunity to turbocharge that transition.

“Three to five years at most, and our entire medical model will be radically transformed,” the soft-spoken Duan said.

To train his avatar, Duan selected material, including textbooks, clinical case studies and content from his social platforms - followed by more than 10 million - to capture his tone.

The chatbot cannot prescribe medication, and AQ’s maker, tech giant Ant Group, says it is not a substitute for treatment.

“At the beginning, I did have concerns,” Duan said. “I value my personal reputation.”

But he believes in “actively embracing” technology to help improve it.

Beijing is soon expected to release its 15th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint for the world’s second-largest economy until 2030 with technological transformation at its heart.