Last week, two events in the field of education garnered significant attention.
On October 24th, Dou Shen Education announced that the company would establish a joint venture with Zhi Pu Hua Zhang (hereinafter referred to as Zhi Pu) to focus on the research and development and sales of AI education products; then, on October 26th, the "Beijing Education Field Artificial Intelligence Application Guide (2024)" was released, clarifying the application standards of artificial intelligence in the education field and guiding schools and teachers and students to carry out application practices in a stable and orderly manner.
The former is an "alliance" between enterprises, and the latter is a "clarification" at the policy level. These two independent events, from different dimensions, have strengthened the position and role of artificial intelligence in education and teaching, so what impact will this have on the entire education industry and related industries?
What does Zhi Pu "cross-border" education see?
In the field of artificial intelligence, Zhi Pu is a "big name". This AI star enterprise, established in 2019, is one of the earliest companies in China to enter the large model track.
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In just a few years, Zhi Pu has received investments from internet giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, and Xiaomi, as well as top PEs such as Sequoia, Hillhouse, Legend Capital, and Shunwei, and is hailed by the industry as the "new AI four little dragons" and "the Chinese company closest to OpenAI".
In addition to technical strength, Zhi Pu can also be called the "most fierce" AI investment institution in the industry, and has been running horse-enclosing land in recent years.
According to statistics from relevant institutions, since 2023, Zhi Pu AI has invested in 15 projects, and has made 8 moves in the time up to this July, such investment strength even exceeds some first-line institutions. Looking at the specific investment direction, Zhi Pu has a wide range of involvement in the AI field, including high-tech industries such as chips, medical, automotive, and manufacturing, as well as traditional fields such as culture and tourism, finance, and marketing.
However, in the field of education, compared to the clear scoring standards and answers of subjects such as mathematics, chemistry, and physics, Chinese education not only involves the accuracy of knowledge data but also involves many subjective non-standard factors such as comprehension ability, expression ability, and emotional interaction. Therefore, the application of AI large models in Chinese education has higher requirements for model processing of complex and diverse data, model training difficulty, and adaptability and flexibility.
Imagine, "Cloud sales and rain clear, colorful through the area bright. The setting sun and the solitary duck fly together, and the autumn water is the same color as the sky", what exactly does this popular verse mean? For students lacking life experience, they may often only understand the literal meaning, and parents' tutoring is also often helpless due to a lack of relevant background and knowledge. This is one of the many pain points that students and parents are troubled with in Chinese learning.The collaboration between DouShen and ZhiPu is aimed at addressing the industry challenges and pain points in the field of AI+Education technology. ZhiPu HuaZhang's breakthroughs in AI large model technology provide technical support for DouShen Education, while DouShen Education offers a wealth of user data and market experience, complementing each other's strengths. ZhiPu possesses industry-leading capabilities in large model development and training, and DouShen has a seventeen-year accumulation in Chinese language education, with successful practices in the field of AI education.
Specifically, DouShen Education relies on its independently developed JiuXiao content production platform, as well as the deep application of its AI intelligent body technology and voice algorithms, to create "super humanoid" master teachers that can accompany children's growth.
It can be seen that the cooperation between ZhiPu and DouShen has the potential to elevate the end-to-end model integrated AI education products to a higher level.
"AI+Education" Accelerates the Pace of Educational Innovation
The education industry heavily relies on "experience-based teaching," where resources such as master teachers, innovative teaching methods, and personalized learning plans are scarce, and they also limit the industry's ability to innovate and break through in a more in-depth direction.
With the development and application of AI technology, innovative applications such as intelligent teaching assistance, personalized learning path recommendations, and precise learning outcome assessments have not only improved learning efficiency but also greatly enriched teaching methods and models. "It can be anticipated that in the next few years, AI's cognitive and professional level in the field of education will be on par with university professors, doctors, and graduate students," said Huang Tiejun, Chairman of the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, in a media interview.
In March of this year, the Ministry of Education officially launched the AI Empowerment Education Initiative, introducing a series of specific measures, including the "AI Learning Column," the upgrade of the National Smart Education Public Service Platform, the demonstration of AI large model applications in the education system, and the construction of a digital education international exchange platform. On August 3, the released opinions further emphasized the importance of digital education as a new consumption model, injecting new momentum into the efficient and orderly development of the AI education industry.
It can be said that under the active guidance of national policies, the industrialization process of AI education has significantly accelerated, and the capital market's perception of the education industry is also quietly changing.
At the 2024 Cloud栖 Conference in September, AI education service provider JingZhunXue announced the successful completion of a new round of financing, with Alibaba's total investment in JingZhunXue reaching about 400 million yuan; the latest financial report of TAL Education shows that the revenue for the second quarter (June 1, 2024, to August 31, 2024) was $619.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 50.4%. The net profit was $57.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 51.5%; DouShen Education achieved a business income of 227 million yuan in the third quarter of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 28.93%, and the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was 41.779 million yuan, a significant year-on-year increase of 191.98%.
With clear national policy orientation and continuous attention from the capital market, under the exploration and practice of more and more "ZhiPu" and "DouShen," "AI+Education" is reshaping the new face of the education industry at an unprecedented speed. The transformation towards intelligence and personalization has become an irresistible trend, which may become a new breakthrough for promoting educational equity and quality improvement, and will also accelerate the construction of a new model of educational innovation.
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