AI adoption during the 2026 Chinese New Year drove a sharp rise in usage across Ant Group’s consumer platforms, with both Alipay AI Pay and the AI health app AQ surpassing 100 million users.
Ant Group said Alipay AI Pay crossed the 100 million user mark on 23 February, becoming the first AI-native payment product to reach this scale.
Usage increased as consumers used the service for everyday transactions such as food orders, drinks and cinema tickets during the holiday period.
Between 5 and 11 February, the product processed more than 120 million transactions.
Launched in 2025, Alipay AI Pay enables payments through AI agents. This includes payments made via voice commands. Users do not need to navigate between pages to complete a transaction.
The product has since expanded into additional use cases. These include in-app AI agents and mini programmes for physical retailers such as Luckin Coffee.
It has also integrated with AI hardware and applications. These include Rokid smart glasses and the consumer AI app Qwen developed by Alibaba Group.
Ant Group also reported strong growth in its standalone AI health app, AQ. The app exceeded 100 million users during the holiday period. This makes AQ the world’s largest AI-native health application.
Adoption accelerated through word of mouth, particularly among younger users introducing the app to family members in their hometowns.
From 9 to 21 February, 52% of new users came from third-tier cities and below.
The most used features included health queries, AI skin analysis, voice consultations, personalised health goals and digital health records.
AQ ranked first overall on China’s Apple App Store download chart for several consecutive days during the holiday.
Usage also rose among Chinese travellers overseas, increasing by 106% compared with the pre-holiday period in January, reflecting growing reliance on AI tools for managing health while travelling.
Ant Group said the milestones reflect its focus on applying AI in regulated, trust-dependent sectors such as payments and healthcare, rather than pursuing general-purpose consumer AI products.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by freepik
