The feature is meant to help people self-test for balding by uploading four pictures covering the front, top and sides of a head. It also offers suggestions for whether to seek medical advice.
The platform is powered by Ant’s own AntBrayer multimodal model, which includes both language and image recognition. It was trained on the data of thousands of real-life cases, according to Ant.
Cai Kefa, the tool’s project manager, said the mini app can offer timely warnings about the onset of hair loss in a scientific manner. This can help people stop relying on superstitious remedies such as rubbing ginger on the top of their heads, he added.
The tool was jointly developed by doctors from a clinic specialising in hair loss at a hospital in Hangzhou, where Ant is based in eastern Zhejiang province. Shuai Juncong, a user who tested the mini app, said it could be helpful for people with hair issues.
“The advice from AI is useful for me,” he said. “I will recommend it to others because it’s easy to use with just four pictures.”
Alipay has been providing AI health services since April, including an “AI medical assistant” that can guide patients through medical procedures such as telling them which department to report to and where they are in the queue to see the doctor. The service has been used in more than 92 hospitals across Zhejiang, according to the provincial health commission.
Alipay also advertised another AI assistant on its homepage in April that provides more than 30 different services, including for travel, healthcare, and government services.