"AI + Consumption" is reshaping the underlying logic of business

Recently, eight departments including the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of 'Artificial Intelligence + Consumption'". It put forward 17 specific measures in five aspects, such as enhancing "Artificial Intelligence + Commodity Consumption" and expanding "Artificial Intelligence + Service Consumption", pressing the accelerator button for the application of artificial intelligence in the consumption field.

Currently, China's AI industry has formed a service system that can stably support hundreds of millions of users and accurately respond to diverse needs, and has a solid foundation for large-scale implementation and application. This has made AI a daily item that can be put on the shelf, enter the living room, accompany the elderly, and educate children. With the increasing popularity of AI technology, the underlying logic of the consumption industry will be completely changed.

The first change is the disappearance of distance. In the past 20-odd years, Internet applications such as e-commerce, food delivery, and ride-hailing apps have shortened the distance between supply and demand from different aspects. Through deep learning with data as the core, AI shortens the distance for commodity producers to "understand" consumers. When an intelligent terminal can remember the dietary preferences, work and rest habits, and health data of each family member, it can provide appropriate services at the right time.

This means that in the future, the competition among enterprises will no longer be about who is closer to users, but who understands users better - this is not a user profile in the statistical sense, but the ability to accurately match each vivid and warm individual. This is both an opportunity to redefine the product form and a moment when being attacked by cross - border players. For example, if a mattress company lacks users' sleep data, it may be replaced by a technology company that has mastered the data.

The second change is the expansion of boundaries. Under the traditional business logic, when a product is sold, the transaction ends. However, AI turns "selling" into the beginning of a relationship - smart devices will remain online, interact, and generate corresponding data continuously. This also means that what enterprises sell is no longer just a simple product, but the continuous value carried by the product. If the business model still stays at "manufacture, sell, and stop caring", then the AI era has nothing to do with you.

For this reason, entrepreneurs need to be vigilant: they cannot simply regard AI as a "new package". If a voice assistant is just attached to an ordinary product and it is claimed to be "empowered by AI", the trust relationship with consumers will be very fragile. A truly valuable AI application makes the product so "smart" that users don't even notice its existence. Behind this is not how advanced the algorithm is, but how deeply it can understand the real needs of users.

Another thing to be vigilant about is the "data trap". In the AI era, data is the "new oil", and an oil spill can pollute the entire sea area.

When AI is deeply embedded in users' lives, the boundary between privacy and convenience becomes extremely important. If a health monitoring device leaks users' medical records, or if a voice interaction is inappropriately recorded, it will cause great harm to the product brand. From a business perspective, adhering to the bottom line of data security and compliance is precisely an opportunity to establish long - term user trust. For enterprises, in the core chain of user data collection, management, and use, "restraint" can win the future more than "greed".

The AI era is coming at an accelerating pace. The dividing line in the consumption industry is not "who uses AI", but "who uses AI to do better business". Entrepreneurs need to find a scenario where AI can truly work, take small steps and run fast, and quickly verify. AI will not subvert the industry overnight, but it will reshape consumers' expectations for "good products" and "good services" day by day. When consumers' expectations change, if enterprises don't change or change slowly, they will eventually be abandoned.

This article is from the WeChat official account "China Entrepreneur Magazine" (ID: iceo - com - cn), author: Zhang Hao. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.