Youdao expands beyond education with AI-powered products

Youdao CEO Zhou Feng delivers a keynote speech at the company's product launch ceremony. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Youdao, the online education arm of Chinese tech firm NetEase, is widening its business horizons with artificial intelligence, rolling out new products that go beyond its core education segment as demand surges in cross-border e-commerce and short video.

Youdao CEO Zhou Feng said on Tuesday that education-focused AI is rapidly moving from "Level 3 proactive learning assistance" toward "Level 4 virtual teachers", with thinking capabilities approaching that of human instructors.

The company unveiled several AI-driven offerings powered by its "Ziyue" large language model, including the Youdao AI answering pen Space X, an upgraded version of its widely used Youdao Dictionary, and a new audio-video translation platform aimed at international users.

Unlike its education tools, the translation platform is an exploratory move into new markets. It offers an end-to-end service covering recording, speech recognition, translation and dubbing.

Zhang Yi, head of Youdao's intelligent applications division, said that in the past two years, cross-border e-commerce and short dramas were at a scale of tens of billions of yuan and countless content creators and re-uploaders who need video translation on TikTok.

He added that multichannel networks face challenges such as overseas regulation, cultural adaptation, and originality requirements. "Our products will enrich and address these scenarios," he said.