Changzhou launches mass digital literacy push

A speaker gives a lecture on AI use in high school education at a school in Changzhou's Jintan district in April. [Photo/China Daily]

Tailored classes

Mao Yanping, executive director of the AI application research institute at Changzhou University of Information Technology, gave a lecture at a night school on June 5, explaining how one-person companies are capable of making tangible commercial breakthroughs.

In her view, the most fundamental goal of such courses is providing confidence.

"I have seen many professionals over 35, especially around 45 years old, trapped in self-doubt. They are family breadwinners, and when their careers stall, they lack growth channels," Mao said.

"After attending the class, the participants are not expected to start businesses or earn income right away. But we hope they leave knowing they have these skills and resources, and can integrate them with their own strengths," she said.

When designing the lecture, her team centered on the one-person company trend, and how ordinary people can learn AI tools and then use them to generate real income and sustainable monetization.

Instead of just teaching tool operations, the lecture started with real cases to boost confidence, then analyzed challenges layer by layer, offering actionable methods. It guided participants to see AI as a reliable "digital colleague" for sustainable solo entrepreneurship.

"The class moves learners from 'daring not to think' to 'daring to try, able to try and sustaining effort'," Mao said.

During the class, Mao used three typical groups as cases: professionals facing career transitions, traditional business owners hitting growth bottlenecks, and highly educated individuals with expertise but no commercialization path.

"AI is not a tool to replace people," she said. "It is a lever that amplifies individual strengths, activates accumulated resources and shortens the cycle from idea to product validation."

Under the implementation plan for citywide AI training, Changzhou has established four major training categories: general literacy programs for all citizens, skills training for enterprise employees and workers, entrepreneurship programs for young talents and startup founders, and government affairs training for employees of government agencies and public institutions.

As of March, the city had gathered more than 300 AI and related enterprises, with one-person companies founded by entrepreneurs under 35 accounting for 55 percent of the total, signaling a promising trend of youth-led, industry-embedded and startup-concentrated development.