Zhu Xiaohu: AI To C will usher in a big explosion next year

Will AI reconstruct user entry points, business models, and industrial division of labor?

On September 11, during the 2025 Bund Conference industry roundtable, Ant Group CEO Han Xinyi, Xiaomi Group Vice President of Mobile Division Zhang Lei, and ZhenFund Managing Partner Zhu Xiaohu engaged in discussions on this hot industry topic, with leaders from three major fields providing key insights from the perspectives of applications, hardware, and investment.

From the application wave initiated by Open AI to the rise of DeepSeek, the popularity of large models has sparked a series of entry point battles within the industry, questioning whether "large models will consume all software."

In response to this issue, investor Zhu Xiaohu believes that low-code and no-code software will definitely be replaced by AI, especially in editing and collaboration software. "It's not that they will be eliminated, but their demand will decrease. If the number of users drops by 10%, the impact will be significant. Collaborative software will still exist in the future market, but it will be much smaller."

He also revealed that when it comes to AI products, the only metric investors focus on is user retention. "From PC internet to mobile internet to AI, it's the same. The user recall cost for AI products may be more than ten times that of mobile internet products. Good retention is the only proof of whether these companies have future development potential," Zhu Xiaohu said.

Han Xinyi believes that specialized AI vertical applications have irreplaceable value that general large models cannot replace. He cited Ant AI's layout in the healthcare field as an example, noting that health is a basic need for every individual and has a trend towards high frequency. "If AI healthcare is done to perfection, there won't be concerns about retention. Understanding patients, providing personalized services based on actual conditions, and helping to execute solutions like a professional doctor is the ultimate goal of AI healthcare."

However, he also believes that AI cannot replace doctors in the short term; it should be an assistant to doctors. The best approach currently is "human-machine collaboration." "We hope AI can help doctors manage their time better, allowing them to focus more on research and complex cases while enabling a large number of grassroots doctors to have good assistants."

In addition to mobile applications, AI is also nearly "redoing" all hardware. AI phones, AI glasses, and AI robots are emerging one after another. Zhang Lei, Vice President of Xiaomi Group's Mobile Division and General Manager of the Wearable Division, believes that "the future entry opportunities will still return to whether the scenarios realized by hardware under AI have super stickiness. In the long run, AI glasses have potential."

"Compared to AI phones, AI glasses change the basic interaction logic from passive to active, which may bring about a change in external interaction paradigms," Zhang Lei revealed, noting that the frequency of calling "Xiao Ai Tong Xue" on Xiaomi glasses is already 6 to 7 times that of the phone.

"In the field of AI, applications will definitely explode next year. The next ByteDance or the next Xiaohongshu should have already been established this year. Entrepreneurs should have many opportunities, and everyone must have the courage to explore the stars and the sea," Zhu Xiaohu encouraged young entrepreneurs on-site when discussing AI business models and entrepreneurial opportunities Zhu Xiaohu combines the rapid growth of AI companies in China and the United States, noting that most American startups focus on the B-end, while China excels in the C-end. Zhu believes that "AI is the same for everyone; the differences lie outside of AI. There are numerous ways to build user experience differences outside of AI, which is what Chinese entrepreneurs are most suited for and excel at." Han Xinyi and Zhang Lei reviewed the application practices of Ant Group and Xiaomi, respectively, and both agreed that there is still significant entrepreneurial exploration space in vertical professional service fields.

When asked about the exploration of business models in vertical scenarios, Han Xinyi cited Ant Group's AI healthcare as an example, admitting that "for us, in the next one to two years, we should not focus our attention on commercialization, because with a huge market and a clear path, there is no need to spend a lot of energy discussing it. What is more important are the three difficulties mentioned earlier: high-quality data chains, professional capabilities, and the suppression of illusions, along with relatively complete medical ethics."

In the face of AI hardware going overseas, Zhang Lei believes that "we may have cost and efficiency advantages on the supply chain side, as well as a strong AI ecosystem advantage. However, how to find truly needed scenarios for users in such a good AI ecosystem, to truly implement and enhance user experience, create stickiness, and improve product strength, I think all of these need to be based on these advantages and return to the product itself."

Zhu Xiaohu also believes that all entrepreneurship must return to human nature, stating, "Where human needs lie remains unchanged; it has not changed in the past thirty years and will not change in the next thirty years. It's just that with AI, there are better experiences and better product forms."