Alipay, the Chinese mobile payments service run by Ant Group, has added an artificial intelligence (AI) hair loss detection feature in its latest effort to further integrate itself into consumers' daily lives.
The feature aims to help users self-diagnose whether they are experiencing hair loss by uploading four photos covering the front, top and sides of their head, and will also provide advice on whether they need to see a doctor.
The platform is powered by Ant's proprietary AntBrayer multi-modal model, which includes both language and image recognition, and which Ant says has been trained on data from thousands of real-world examples.
Alipay is one of China's two biggest mobile payment solutions, with Tencent Holdings' WeChat Pay accounting for more than 90% of the market. WeChat Pay was built on the popularity of China's biggest super app, WeChat, but Alipay has been looking for ways to make the app more appealing by adding new features covering different areas, including finance, lifestyle, healthcare and social features. The baldness checker quickly caught the attention of Chinese netizens. According to a 2020 survey conducted by the National Health Commission of China, about one in six people in China, or more than 250 million people, suffer from hair loss-related issues. Amid rising stress, air pollution and unhealthy lifestyles, more and more young Chinese are starting to pay attention to hair-related issues.
Tsai Kefa, project manager of the tool, said the mini-app can provide timely warnings about the onset of hair loss in a scientific way, which will help people stop relying on superstitious treatments such as rubbing ginger on the top of the head, he added.
The tool was developed jointly by doctors at a hospital's alopecia clinic in Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, where Ant is headquartered. Shuai Juncong, a user who tried the mini-app, said it could be useful for people with hair problems.
“The AI's advice has been helpful to me,” he said. “It's easy to use with just four photos, and I would recommend it to others.”
Alipay has been offering AI medical services since April, including an “AI medical assistant” that can guide patients through medical procedures, such as telling them which department to go to and when to turn in to see a doctor. The service is being used in more than 92 hospitals across Zhejiang province, according to the provincial health commission.
In April, Alipay also promoted another AI assistant on its homepage, offering more than 30 services including travel, healthcare and government services.
