Meituan CEO Wang Xing Discusses AI Strategy Again: The Only Rational Approach Is Offense, Not Pursuing to Become a Token Factory

On March 26th, during Meituan’s earnings call, CEO Wang Xing stated that in the AI revolution, the only reasonable strategy is to attack rather than defend. However, Meituan will not blindly pursue becoming a “Token Factory,” but instead views AI as a strategic opportunity to improve, strengthen, and even fundamentally transform its core local services business.

He revealed that since early 2023, Meituan has made large-scale investments in capital expenditure and AI talent. “Apart from companies with cloud computing businesses, Meituan’s investment in AI is probably the largest among domestic companies, and we have been committed to this layout for more than three years.” Meituan continues to invest in its self-developed foundational large model LongCat and is collaborating with top third-party large models in the industry, aiming to understand the physical world as accurately as possible.

Wang Xing believes that the key to the AI “super portal” lies in precisely understanding user needs and efficiently executing tasks, which is far more complex than a “chatbot.”

Especially in the local life sector, where consumption scenarios are complex and diverse, and massive amounts of merchant information are scattered, data and information have not been effectively digitized. Additionally, local life platforms need to deeply manage fulfillment and delivery, which is a capability that general AI currently lacks.

Based on years of business development, Meituan has mastered extensive physical world information and accumulated the most comprehensive user reviews online. Currently, Meituan has launched the AI assistant “Xiaotuan” embedded in the Meituan app for all users, covering all categories of local life services. Users only need to input their service needs to quickly match with quality merchants and products.

Wang Xing gave an example: “I work in Wangjing, my friend is in Zhongguancun, and we plan to have lunch together. But we only have two hours, so we need to find a Sichuan restaurant located in the middle, with good taste, and easy parking.” To meet this common need, AI must understand map information, POI data, and real-time restaurant availability; otherwise, it’s hard to satisfy the user’s true requirements.

Based on vast physical world information, “Xiaotuan” can quickly extract valuable insights from online reviews and infer answers that meet personalized user needs.

Wang Xing stated that in the future, model capabilities will continue to be optimized, and Meituan will further deepen the integration of “Xiaotuan” within the Meituan app. “We hope to use next-generation AI technology to make the Meituan app the preferred platform for solving local life needs. We will strengthen AI search capabilities and execution abilities, striving to upgrade Meituan into a leading AI-driven application and become the AI portal for future local life demands.”

(Source: The Paper)