Text: Lin Weixin
Editor|Su Jianxun
prompt - this is the 2023 word of the year announced by NetEase Youdao.
In the past year, the big model with the word "prompt" has made waves in all walks of life. In the field of education, the influence of large models is gradually emerging.
Recently, NetEase Youdao launched version 2.0 of the education model "Ziyue". "Zi Yue" is the first large education model in China, released version 1.0 in July last year, after five months, the most important upgrade of version 2.0 is the use of search augmentation technology (Retrieval Augmented Generation), so that the accuracy of the model's answers has been greatly improved, and the illusion problem has been reduced.
Zhou Feng, CEO of NetEase Youdao, said that the "Ziyue" large model has "relatively good solutions" for complex problems in mathematics, physics and other disciplines, and the correctness indicators are relatively industry-leading.
"Zi Yue" large model
At the press conference, Zhou Feng believed that in 2023, the industry will mainly explore the performance of large models, and "this year will be the first year of AI super applications." He called on large model companies to "hurry up and make applications", and historical experience shows that the key to the success or failure of a new technology is the consumer, "If you make something that many people are using, it will definitely succeed." ”
Following the launch of six large model applications in July, NetEase Youdao has released three AI applications this time, namely AI tutor "Little P Teacher", Youdao Speed Reading, and Virtual Oral Language Private Tutor Hi Echo 2.0.
The scene of the press conference
Among them, the virtual oral language private training Hi Echo is an AI application that NetEase Youdao has high hopes for, and the current business model is mainly membership payment, with a continuous monthly subscription of 68 yuan/month, an annual membership of 698 yuan/year, and a continuous annual subscription of 498 yuan/year. It is reported that the registered users of Hi Echo have reached nearly one million.
Zhou Feng told 36Kr that in the past, users were Xi using free tool software, but the era of large models will "reshape users' mindset of paying for software." Judging from the payment situation of Hi Echo, users have "great enthusiasm" to pay for easy-to-use AI products.
In addition to software, hardware is also a major way for large models to be implemented in the field of education.
NetEase Youdao upgraded its own Xi machine products with large models. At this press conference, NetEase Youdao launched a new intelligent hardware product: Youdao AI Xi learning machine X20.
Youdao AI Xi machine X20 is not only equipped with the "Ziyue" large model, but also incorporates AI applications such as "Little P Teacher", Hi Echo 2.0 and Youdao Speed Reading, which are free for buyers to use.
Today, several major edtech companies are developing AI products that implement large models. Zhou Feng said that the key point of competition is to find the most suitable educational scenario for large models.
The answer given by NetEase Youdao is family counseling. Zhou Feng explained that the survey found that parents have the strongest demand for this scene. The core selling point of Youdao AI learning Xi machine X20 is to help tutor children with homework.
In the third quarter of 2023, NetEase Youdao's smart hardware business revenue declined, which the company explained was due to the adjustment of marketing channels. Zhou Feng admitted frankly, "The purchasing power of consumers is relatively sluggish, and the entire industry has to suffer together."
In the downturn, Zhou Feng believes that the biggest opportunity lies in technological innovation, and the large model is expected to drive the growth of hardware sales, "we can see results this year." He revealed that NetEase Youdao will launch more AI products after the Spring Festival.
The following is a part of the transcript of the exchanges between 36Kr and other media with Zhou Feng (compiled and edited by 36Krton):
36Kr: What kind of considerations is Youdao based on using a large model to target the two scenarios of English learning Xi and family counseling?
Zhou Feng: NetEase's style has always been very pragmatic, and we want to develop practical applications. From the first day of the project, Ding Lei and I reached a consensus that we must make it useful and let our business and products be used by everyone. We chose what the big model could handle, so we chose English, and we focused not only on speaking, but also on grammar and vocabulary related to English, which was warmly welcomed, and it was our first step.
Today we are trying to meet another need of our users – family tutoring. Parents need to explain the topic to their children, but they can't do it themselves. The need is urgent. We hope that Mr. P will be able to solve this problem. We finally made a product that we were relatively happy with, and we hope to take it out for everyone to use and see how it works. As far as we know, we (the product) should be the first AI tutor in China.
36Kr: In the field of education, especially teaching and auxiliary work, there is a lot of professional knowledge, and today you mentioned at the press conference that the difficulties in mathematics, physics and other disciplines have been solved by Youdao AI Xi machine, what technology is behind it?
Feng Zhou: The technical route we chose is to combine powerful large models and search augmentation technology, and also use some computational algebra systems (CAS), so that the whole system can have the knowledge system and problem-solving ability of primary and secondary schools. For example, an algebraic system of unary quadratic equations can directly give a solution and explain the problem-solving process.
This solution achieves quite good results. In the past, we were able to solve almost half of the problems with only large models, and sometimes even less, but now we are able to improve to a level where user satisfaction is quite good.
36Kr: The combination of basic models and industry data is a trend, what is the effect of combining large model training with education industry data?
Zhou Feng: This is what we started doing on the first day. Essentially, we need a lot of offline data. We've done this kind of digitization before, and when we had the need for a large model, we immediately applied it.
In addition, the quality of the data is critical. We have also done a lot of comparative experiments, and found that some data with a large amount of data but poor quality may not be as effective as those with small data volume but high quality accuracy.
The third is that the ceiling effect is more obvious. There is a relatively significant ceiling to how well the generic base model can improve within the domain. So we tried a number of routes later, and in the end, our little teacher P actually took RAG (Search Augmentation Technology), and the level was improved a lot at once.
36Kr: Compared with its peers, what are the advantages of Youdao in the era of large models?
Zhou Feng: In this field, we should be relatively fast. In addition, we have experience in teaching and training, teachers, software, hardware design capabilities, and sales capabilities, and we are relatively comprehensive in general.
36Kr: In fact, there are many AI plug-ins for English learning and Xi, what is the logic of Youdao's choice to make products?
Answer: There are many people who ask me this question, what can be done by plug-ins, why do you want to make a product? In fact, you may not know, Youdao is to make plug-ins, the original Youdao dictionary is a browser plug-in, that is written by myself, we soon found that plug-ins are not enough.
Plug-ins are a good way to innovate, and they are also something that users can easily install, but we rarely see a plug-in that really grows big in the end, because it can't do it if it wants to achieve a commercial closed loop, so in the end we quickly surpass the plug-in stage. Youdao Dictionary was a plug-in for about half a year, and then we soon found out that we had to make a complete product, because the detailed experience was very critical and required a lot of polishing.
36Kr: With a large model, this year's Xi machine track is very involuted, what is the main selling point of Youdao Xi machine?
Zhou Feng: The core selling point is the "three-in-one", which is equipped with a large model application in the learning Xi machine; the learning and training machine includes the English teaching resources accumulated by Youdao, as well as genuine content such as "53"; and the third is the computer, but it can be controlled by parents.
36Kr: In the past, Youdao smart hardware sales revenue was negative growth, and now with a large model, how does it help the performance of hardware sales?
Zhou Feng: This year's overall consumer electronics is not very good, and we are also actively trying to find ways to speed up the launch of new products. It is true that the purchasing power of consumers is relatively low now. Therefore, we have to suffer with consumers, and on the contrary, suppliers should also suffer with us, and the whole industry is a chain, and everyone suffers a little together.
The biggest opportunity is, of course, innovation, which brings new efficiency gains and productivity gains, so I'm still optimistic.
36Kr: What new opportunities will there be in the field of education in the era of large models?
Zhou Feng: I think all companies that make large models have to hurry up and make applications. It's largely the consumer who makes or breaks a new technology, and if you make something that a lot of people are using, it's hard to fail.
36Kr: A popular opinion was that if an AI product doesn't charge on the first day, it may never be charged. I noticed that Hi Echo started charging very early. How do you see the commercialization of AI products?
Zhou Feng: I've heard this sentence before, and I think it actually makes sense. We have observed that users are quite willing to pay for AI products, because AI products provide users with value that cannot be provided by previous products, so users are still willing to spend some money in many cases.
We have made some charging attempts, and the overall feedback is relatively positive, which is why we are now investing a lot in Hi Echo, and hope that it can continue to upgrade, because the enthusiasm of users to pay and the enthusiasm of actual use are relatively high.
36Kr: When it comes to the landing of large models, what are the educational scenarios that may be ineffective or not worth doing with large models?
Zhou Feng: There are a lot of paradoxical things, such as using large models to generate lesson plans, I don't think it's very interesting, because the quality of this thing can't be so high with large models, but the quality is very critical, so I don't think it's easy to get it. There is also the use of large models to teach directly, because there are a lot of people who do virtual people now, and I don't think it's good to let virtual people go to class directly, this kind of no interaction, children don't want to listen to a dummy lecture there.
36Kr: In your opinion, what is the period when the large model was implemented in the field of education?
Zhou Feng: It's definitely still early, and I think it's clear that the application must be the most critical, and the application will develop well when the entire model is done well. There should be more applications this year, last year everyone was still making model capabilities, to figure out what these things can do first, I hope there will be more applications this year.
2024 must be the first year of a real AI super application. Last year, everyone may have been groping, and this year there will be many AI super applications one after another. In fact, the vertical field of education is at the forefront, such as Teacher P, and we will continue to have more very useful applications in the future.