May 5, 2026
Beijing – Qian Zhifang was sitting at her kitchen table in her rural Hubei province, scrolling on her phone. The 65-year-old factory worker was checking his blood pressure using a smartwatch his daughter bought him. Within seconds, a message appeared on the screen indicating that her readings had risen slightly.
Instead of traveling for hours to the nearest municipal hospital in Wuhan, Zhang opened the app, typed in a question, and received an almost instantaneous response from an artificially intelligent doctor.
“It reminded me to monitor my salt intake and suggested when to see a ‘real’ doctor,” Zhang said. “For someone like me, it feels like having a family doctor at home.”
She is part of a growing wave of digital healthcare users. What began as a set of experimental tools has evolved into a system operated at scale that guides patients in making daily health decisions while simultaneously supporting physicians in their clinical care.
Central to this transformation is Ant Health’s AQ, launched in mid-2025. The platform is growing rapidly, especially in small and medium-sized cities and rural areas where access to experts remains limited. The company reports that adoption is skyrocketing, total daily consultations exceed 10 million, and monthly active users triple that number.
Its popularity reflects long-standing structural challenges facing China’s health care system. Although the country has world-class hospitals in large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, patients in small towns and rural areas often travel long distances to receive specialized care. Many people flock to hospitals in large cities for conditions that could be treated elsewhere.
AQ aims to alleviate some of that pressure by combining AI-generated health guidance with access to real doctors.
“People often need guidance before seeing a doctor and support after being discharged from the hospital,” said Shen Yunfan, head of communications at Ant Health. “Our goal is to help users understand their health conditions faster, while ensuring they receive professional medical care when they need it.”
Behind the app is a large network of medical data and partnerships. According to Ant Health, the system leverages clinical guidelines, peer-reviewed medical journals, and collaborations with more than 5,000 hospitals and 300,000 physicians. Despite the impressive numbers, the company emphasizes that its platform is designed to assist, not replace, doctors.
According to the company, more than 55% of AQ users live in tier 3 cities or small communities. “In these areas, people may not have easy access to top-notch hospitals,” Shen said.
Since these users are likely to be more reliant on the app than those living in urban areas, Shen assured that they will have full control over the upload and use of data such as test results, prescriptions, and photos for AI-assisted interpretation through the platform’s Q&A feature. Privacy protection automatically blurs sensitive information and data is end-to-end encrypted, she said.
“We strictly comply with the country’s legal requirements and regulations and ensure that only users have access to their health data,” said Shen. “Trust is very important when dealing with medical information.”
One of the app’s most unusual features is its library of “AI doctor avatars.” These digital assistants are modeled on the knowledge and clinical experience of over 1,000 physicians.
Patients can ask these virtual doctors routine questions, and complex cases are redirected to human experts.
“Avatar allows doctors to focus their time on difficult cases,” Shen said. “At the same time, patients in remote areas can interact with medical professionals they may not otherwise be able to reach.”
Beyond commercial platforms, researchers are pushing the boundaries of AI in healthcare.
At Tsinghua University, scientists have developed an experimental system known as an “agent hospital.” In this system, AI doctors are trained to diagnose and treat simulated patients in a completely virtual environment. The system allows multiple AI agents to work together to mimic real hospital workflows.
“The idea is to let the AI system learn medicine in the same way young doctors do, through repeated cases, decision-making, and feedback,” said Liu Yang, director of Tsinghua University’s Institute of AI Industry and the project’s lead scientist.
“Virtual environments allow you to gain experience at a scale and speed that is not possible in the real world,” Liu said.
This project offers a glimpse into a more automated future where elements of healthcare can be expanded far beyond staffing limitations.
“We’re not trying to replace hospitals,” Liu added. “But we are exploring how some parts of medical reasoning and daily practice can be standardized and enhanced through AI.”
But as technology advances, so do the questions surrounding it.
The rapid expansion of AI healthcare tools has sparked debates around accuracy, accountability, and the evolving role of physicians.
While platforms stress that AI is designed to assist, not replace, doctors, some experts warn that over-reliance on automated systems could pose new risks, especially in complex or ambiguous cases.
“There is a lot of uncertainty in health care,” said Mo Cai, a Beijing-based health policy expert. “Human judgment becomes important when cases deviate from the standard pattern, and this is where current AI systems continue to struggle.”
Accessibility is also a concern. Digital tools can provide care to underserved populations, but they may be less effective for older users or users who are unfamiliar with smartphones.
“Technology can expand access, but ensuring that technology remains usable and reliable for all people is just as important as improving its intelligence,” Liu said.
Some doctors say these tools are already changing the way they work.
Zhang Ling, a cardiologist at China-Japan Friendship Hospital, uses Ant A-Fu’s desktop platform to manage online medical consultations and review patient medical histories.
“The AI assistant organizes patient information before starting the consultation. The AI assistant identifies potential red flags and highlights urgent cases,” said Zhang.
This type of triage can be valuable in China’s busiest hospitals, where doctors often see dozens of patients each day.
“It is not a substitute for clinical judgment,” Zhang added. “But it makes the system much more efficient.”
Still, the introduction was not without some resistance, especially from within hospitals. Some administrators and clinicians remain wary of integrating large-scale AI models into clinical workflows, citing concerns about reliability and professional risk.
“Healthcare is more than just pattern recognition; it involves judgment, responsibility and uncertainty,” said one hospital administrator, who requested anonymity.
“If an AI system generates an incorrect recommendation, even in rare cases, it can have serious consequences in clinical practice, which is why many healthcare organizations are hesitant.”
Concerns about data governance create additional barriers. Although technology companies emphasize that patient information is protected, some hospitals are reluctant to share internal data with external platforms for fear of loss of control or unintentional leakage.
“From a hospital perspective, data is one of the most sensitive assets,” the administrator said.
“Even if a company claims that the data will only be used for specific purposes, that may not seem reliable enough. It takes time to build trust.”
Developers say such concerns are understandable but often misplaced. Most platforms operate under strict data isolation protocols, with patient information encrypted and stored within a controlled environment, said Shen, head of communications at Ant Health.
Data used for AI-assisted services is typically not fed back into the underlying model training, and these safeguards are often written into formal contracts with partner institutions.
“We do not use hospital data to train our base model; that is clearly specified in the contract,” Shen said. “There are also strict rules governing data storage, permissions, and system architecture.”
AI medicine remains a developing field, and experts say algorithms need to address a wider variety of medical conditions and the digital barriers users face. Ensuring accuracy and maintaining public trust remain important challenges.
Ant Health says it is already working on new features such as chronic disease management tools. A senior-friendly interface with dialect support for seniors was released in February.
For patients like Chen in Hubei province, the technology is already reshaping daily medical care. She now checks her blood pressure regularly and refers to the app whenever she has questions. If you prefer, you can connect directly to a doctor online. “Taking care of my health made me feel less alone,” she said.
