Published on Dec 17, 2025

China aims to improve the early detection and treatment of cancer using artificial intelligence and digital twins of leading oncologists. The “Integrated Initiative for Cancer Prevention and Treatment (2025–2030)” was announced on December 13 at a medical conference in Beijing, according to the Chinese science and technology daily Keji Ribao (in Chinese).

The initiative is led by JD Health, the healthcare platform of China’s online retailer JD.com, together with the China Anti-Cancer Association. The stated goal is to integrate cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence “deeply into clinical practice”.

A medical AI large language model developed by JD Health under the name “Jingyi Qianxun” (京医千询) has been trained, among other things, on data from online diagnosis and treatment services at JD’s internet hospital platform, clinical guidelines, and high-quality specialist literature, a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The Chinese name “Jingyi Qianxun” can be loosely translated as “JD Doctor of a Thousand Consultations”.

JD Health said it is cooperating with national and regional medical data centres in order to further develop the base model using large volumes of anonymised medical records and diagnostic imaging data. The company added that it has already developed several specialised models for different disease profiles.

In oncology, JD Health is pursuing a dual approach that combines alignment with real-world care data and the integration of expert knowledge. According to the company, the expertise of more than 1,000 specialists from over 400 hospitals has been incorporated to continuously refine the models.

Over time, “digital twins” of almost 100 leading cancer specialists have been created by training specialised AI models on multidimensional data from clinical practice, including medical histories, laboratory results, medical imaging, and pathological tissue samples.

In the fight against prostate cancer, gastrointestinal tumours, and respiratory diseases, JD Health signed additional agreements on AI-supported diagnosis and treatment with several hospitals at the Beijing conference, including the Peking University Cancer Hospital, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, and the hospital of Guangzhou Medical University.

The initiators of the five-year initiative emphasised that they are striving for a high level of professionalism and accuracy, while at the same time using AI to enable the “broad dissemination of clinical expertise”, the Chinese science newspaper reported.

Across China, artificial intelligence is transforming how diagnosis and treatment are supported. The Chinese government is actively promoting this shift and has drawn up an ambitious plan with clearly defined milestones specifying when individual AI targets in healthcare are to be achieved.

On November 4 this year, the National Health Commission, which is the country’s top economic planning body, and other authorities jointly published a policy framework document on “AI + Healthcare” (in Chinese). By 2027, a series of high-quality and “trusted” medical data repositories are to be established, enabling the subsequent development of large AI models and agents specialised for clinical use.

By then, Beijing also aims to see AI-supported primary care widely available across the country. Artificial intelligence is also to be broadly deployed in specialist departments of many hospitals and in patient services across a wide range of medical institutions, according to the plan.

By 2030, AI-supported diagnostics in primary care are expected to be largely established throughout the People’s Republic. In secondary-level hospitals and above, artificial intelligence is to be “generally used for medical image analysis and clinical decision support”. As of the end of last year, China had 12,294 such hospitals.

In addition, the key standards and regulatory frameworks for the “AI + healthcare” ecosystem are to be completed by 2030. Over the next five years, several globally leading centres for scientific innovation and talent development in this field are also to be established.

These central government guidelines are being reinforced at the local level with financial incentives. On November 24, the city of Beijing adopted a policy package under which companies developing competitive medical AI models can apply for subsidies of up to 30 million yuan, around four million US dollars, to cover their computing costs.

Alongside hospitals and medical universities, a number of large private companies in China are also heavily involved in introducing AI into healthcare. In addition to JD.com, this includes Ant Group, a major Chinese fintech company, which recently declared AI, with a focus on the healthcare market, to be a “strategic pillar” of its business strategy.

One of Ant Group’s many AI initiatives is based at West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu. There, the reported early-detection rate for lung cancer has increased from 14.6 percent to 65.6 percent with the help of AI-supported diagnostics, according to China Daily.

“A lung nodule that previously took a great deal of time to detect on a CT scan can now be identified within seconds,” Luo Fengming, president of the hospital, told the newspaper. He added that final decision-making authority remains with the doctors.

According to estimates, China’s market for AI-supported healthcare is currently growing at annual rates of around 40 percent and, based on a forecast by International Data Corporation, is expected to reach a total value of 13.4 billion US dollars next year.

At the same time, experts warn that there is still considerable need for regulation in areas such as data protection and the reimbursement of AI-supported services in China. Discussions are under way about establishing a national medical data centre in which citizens’ health data could be identified only via ID numbers, without the use of real names.

The legislature therefore still has some catching up to do in certain areas, but judging by political signals from Beijing, this is unlikely to deter the government from promoting AI in healthcare on a broad scale. The enthusiasm with which doctors, academics, investors, and entrepreneurs in China are engaging with the topic is unmistakable.

Since the start of this year, a clear momentum has been emerging that is likely to lead to comprehensive integration of AI across the entire healthcare value chain over the next five years, from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation, and on to health management and insurance.