This told essay is based on conversations with Yilin Zhang, AI product manager at AI startup Kuse, who worked at Meituan for over three years. Edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his work history and educational background.
I graduated from Tsinghua University in 2021 with a master’s degree in computer science and joined Meituan, one of China’s largest technology companies, as a product manager.
I worked on two AI projects at Meituan, a local service platform in China, especially known for food delivery. One is a consumer-facing AI assistant that helps users complete various tasks, such as ordering food. The other is an AI agent for sellers designed to help businesses manage their day-to-day operations, such as processing reservations, managing orders, and supporting daily operations.
The main difference between how products are manufactured in China and the United States lies in the market.
Why are Chinese technology companies so cost-efficient?
Most of China’s leading technology companies accelerated AI product development more aggressively around 2025.
My AI work at Meituan started around April or May of that year. It coincided with the growing interest in DeepSeek, which began to attract more attention to AI agents.
Large companies started competing to build AI projects, and almost every business unit started working on AI.
For a long time, especially until 2021 or 2022, Chinese tech companies were primarily focused on domestic competition rather than overseas expansion. Intense competition in China has forced technology companies to become extremely efficient. Their execution methods are horrifyingly sophisticated.
Constraints have also led Chinese AI companies to pursue a different path, focusing on open source models and cost efficiency. These limitations forced exploration in new directions, and those paths proved to be of some value.
DeepSeek is a good example. Due to international restrictions, we were unable to access large numbers of GPUs, forcing us to innovate around efficiency instead.
Why China’s AI products are different from those in Europe and America
The Chinese market and overseas markets are fundamentally different, with different user bases, expectations, and product designs.
Chinese users are much less willing to pay for software. Therefore, many mass-market AI products, such as Doubao, tend to be free. The primary goal is often to increase active usage.
A lot of functionality is packaged into one prompt where you can ask questions, essentially a chatbox interface with a low barrier to entry.
International AI products target users who perform high-value tasks. They are often designed for desktops rather than mobile devices, and have interfaces that are more suited to your work situation. These products explore how AI and humans can work together and intersect across a variety of work scenarios, helping users complete tasks more effectively and efficiently.
In China, its user group is relatively small. That makes it difficult for the company’s mainstream AI products to move beyond chat-based forms and into more advanced offerings.
China’s internet success over the past decade has also been largely due to consumer apps. In that environment, product managers must be obsessed with user feedback and relentlessly refine even the smallest features.
Teams may spend a lot of effort improving small features just to attract a small group of users. In less competitive markets, such a level of detail is not necessarily necessary.
AI startup scene is growing in China
After spending three or four years at Meituan, I felt like I had learned most of what I could from that environment. I left my job in October and joined AI startup Kuse.
AI is evolving very rapidly. In large companies, iteration speed can be slow. Many of my friends at various Big Tech companies share the same frustration. Smaller, more nimble companies can adapt faster.
In the past, top graduates basically had two paths: join the civil service or join big tech companies.
That is changing. Especially in the past year, many AI startups have been born, and an increasing number of young people are choosing to start their own businesses. AI has opened new avenues outside of Big Tech.
By 2025, not engaging with AI at all will feel like staying in the PC Internet era of 2010 rather than joining the mobile Internet wave.
Do you have a story to share about working at a Chinese technology company? Contact this reporter at: cmlee@insider.com.
