Ant Group combats health misinformation in China with new AI app feature

Ant Group has introduced a major initiative through its AI healthcare app AQ to combat health misinformation in China, with a special focus on protecting seniors. 

This comes as more than 40% of elderly people in China have fallen victim to scams involving fake health products, while three in 10 have been misled by medical misinformation, according to research from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 

As part of the new initiative, a new AI-powered section for identifying fraudulent medical ads and health misinformation is launched for users.  

Users can quickly verify whether a medical ad is trustworthy by uploading a photo, typing in text, or making a one-click voice call. The process is designed to be smooth, simple, and especially user-friendly for the elderly. 

To further ensure reliable access to healthcare knowledge, Ant Group has teamed up with more than 300 physicians across China to develop AI doctor agents within AQ, offering credible, authoritative medical advice.  

In addition, through Ant Group’s online consultation platform Haodf.com, more than 200,000 doctors are available to provide real-time, person-to-person medical consultations via AQ. 

Beyond digital tools, Ant Group also plans to organise thousands of in-person education sessions nationwide to raise awareness among seniors, protecting them from medical misinformation. 

“In the age of AI, we are dedicated to combating false medical advertising and health misinformation with AQ, thus making healthcare more accessible and people’s lives healthier,” said Junjie Zhang, vice president of Ant Group and head of healthcare business.  

AQ, officially launched in June 2025 after public testing began in September 2024, has already attracted 100 million users, according to Ant Group. The app is powered by Ant Group’s large healthcare model, built on more than a decade of healthcare expertise. With advanced medical reasoning and multimodal interaction capabilities, the model has consistently ranked first in both the HealthBench and MedBench evaluations. 

The app helps users manage their daily healthcare needs with over 100 AI-powered services, including doctor recommendations, medical report analysis, and personalised medical advice. It also connects users to digital services from over 5,000 hospitals and nearly one million doctors across China.

Through ongoing initiatives, Ant Group aims to support a more trustworthy and inclusive healthcare environment in China—improving the efficiency of limited medical resources and advancing medical inclusion for all. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Ant Group for more information. 

Ant Group has significantly intensified its efforts to enhance the patient experience through the use of AI. In March 2025, the company partnered with leading players in the IT industry to integrate its advanced healthcare large model into various all-in-one AI machines tailored for medical use.

This innovative solution enables hospitals to deploy AI models on-premises, ensuring both efficiency and data security while optimising daily operations and elevating the quality of patient care.

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