On December 30, Alipay launched a new generation of AI visual search product called "Explore", which is based on its self-developed multimodal large model technology. It allows users to "explore everything with the AI's eye" and provides a faster, more useful, and entertaining generative search service.
When users encounter something of interest, they can use the AI through their camera to identify flowers, pets, trendy toys, provide travel explanations, check product and medicine details, and even interpret cute pet photos or baby pictures, making it easy to share images without worrying about captions. This product is now available on Alipay; users can find it by swiping left after clicking "Scan" on the homepage, and it can also be quickly accessed through the Zhixiaobao app.
Since 2024, Alipay has consecutively released independent AI applications such as "Zhixiaobao" and a smart agent development platform. The launch of "Explore", focusing on the AI visual multimodal track, marks a significant acceleration of Ant Group's AI strategy centered around Alipay.
Giving AI Eyes to Explore the World Around Us
In recent years, generative artificial intelligence has developed rapidly, and multimodal technology is turning vision into a new entry point for digital services. According to reports, Alipay launched "Explore" to make AI the "curiosity eye" for ordinary people, helping them explore everything around them and enabling AI to recognize images for search, creation, and interaction.
Unlike traditional AI visual search products, "Explore" can quickly provide useful information through AI image recognition and offer more engaging visual interpretations and diverse smart services based on a deep understanding of user interests and contexts.
Through experience, it was found that "Explore" currently offers three core services: Knowledge Exploration, Inspiration Exploration, and Text Exploration.
When encountering something that is hard to describe in words, users can achieve AI image recognition anytime with "Knowledge Exploration" and gain new insights.
For outdoor enthusiasts and travelers, when they come across unfamiliar flowers, insects, foods, buildings, or exhibition items, they can easily obtain relevant information and have a "smart guide" at their disposal.
Young people can use it to find information about their favorite collectibles and trendy toys; parents can identify 68 types of Ultraman characters, no longer worrying about being stumped by their children’s questions.
Users identifying Ultraman using "Explore"
When encountering foreign products with unreadable labels, "Explore" can provide details, making it easier to purchase similar items online; if a medicine box is missing its instructions, users can not only find detailed descriptions but also access Alipay's "AI Health Manager" for more medication information.
Leveraging the features of generative AI, "Inspiration Exploration" can trigger smart visual filters based on scenes, enabling fun interpretations, making it easy to share images without worrying about captions.
For pet owners, they can take pictures of their pets and create "heartfelt stories" that make their furry friends "speak" in a more touching way; parents who love to share photos of their children can let AI help interpret their little affections for their kids.
Additionally, while traveling abroad or learning a foreign language, when encountering foreign menus or signs that are difficult to understand, users can conveniently identify the original text and translate it using "Text Exploration".
Revamping AI Visual Search, Alipay's AI Continues to Accelerate
In the past, searches mainly returned relevant results through keyword matching. As a new generation of generative AI visual search product, "Explore" does not simply provide search links; instead, it offers a more intelligent, richer, and interactive service experience based on multimodal large model visual understanding and creative capabilities.
Data shows that over 80% of the information humans acquire comes from visual sources. AI products centered around vision can significantly lower the barriers for human-AI interaction and unlock more AI application scenarios, achieving "what you see is what you search for, and what you see is what you get." Abroad, Google's Google Lens has over 20 billion visual searches each month; Apple also launched a new feature called "Visual Intelligence" this year, which helps users "instantly understand everything they see" using their phone cameras.
As a digital lifestyle open platform serving hundreds of millions of users, Alipay's launch of the AI visual search product "Explore", integrated into the core "Scan" feature, aims to continuously innovate products so that AI can facilitate everyone’s life just like scanning for payments—equipped not only with a brain to converse and hands to act but also with eyes to explore the world around us.
The rapid rollout of Alipay's AI products is backed by Ant Group's accelerated AI First strategy. In November 2023, Ant launched its self-developed Lark large model, and since September of this year, it has introduced three major AI applications and smart agent development platforms, "Treasure Box", further accelerating the construction of an open AI service ecosystem.
