Ant Group picks AI-assisted healthcare as new growth area amid China’s rapid ageing

The group, which owns and operates the payment service Alipay, has been struggling to find new areas for growth after Beijing imposed regulatory requirements on its consumer-credit businesses. Ant has also restructured to run independently from Alibaba, with chairman Jack Ma ceding his role as Ant’s actual controller. Alibaba owns the Post.

“In the age of AI, Ant focuses on real-world applications and targets three major service sectors: everyday consumer services, financial services and healthcare services,” Han said in a letter to employees on Friday. He added that the company aimed to quickly establish healthcare “as a strategic pillar”, as AI was a key to “tackling society’s most pressing healthcare challenges”.

The elevation of the healthcare business marked one of the most significant pivots for Ant since its cancelled initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong five years ago, which signalled a changing economic and regulatory landscape.

Ant Group now has five core business groups: Alipay, digital payments, wealth and insurance, credit and healthcare. In addition, the group conducted an internal carve-up last year to create overseas business arm Ant International, innovation-focused Ant Digital Technologies and database operation OceanBase as independent entities.

Zhang Junjie, a long-time executive in Ant’s healthcare division, is president of the new healthcare business group.