JD Health Pioneers a New Specialist Internet Healthcare Model with AI-Powered Mental Health Platform

On the recently observed May 25 Mental Health Day, mental health issues once again became a social hotspot.

On the demand side, the high prevalence of conditions such as depression and anxiety disorders, coupled with the frequent occurrence of mental health issues stemming from academic pressure, workplace stress, and relationship challenges, has created an urgent public need for a more comprehensive mental health service system and psychological interventions.RequiredPenetrating into all sectors of society and across all age groups.

On the supply side, there is a significant shortage of professionals, including psychiatrists, psychological counselors, and practitioners in other related interdisciplinary fields. Since 2024, top-tier universities such as Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have successively established independent schools or departments of psychology, innovating discipline construction and talent cultivation. By prioritizing the integration of AI and psychology, these initiatives aim to address the scarcity of resources at its source while exploring the use of new technologies to research and answer fundamental questions in psychology.

Meanwhile, the industry side continues to iterate on technical products and upgrade service models, becoming an important component of the social mental health service system. On May 25, JD Health launched “Liaoyu Xiaoyuzhou,” an AI psychological companion product based on a large language model specialized in psychology. Together with its previously released multimodal auxiliary diagnostic tools and digital management tools powered by large models, JD Health has become China’s first online mental health service platform driven by large language models.

“The AI + Mental Health”-Driven Industry Transformation Has Already Begun.

On May 25, JD Health’s Mental Health Service Center held a press conference in Beijing to launch “Liaoyu Xiaoyuzhou” (Chat Healing Universe), an AI-powered psychological companion product evolved from the Jingyi Qianxun human-like large language model.

“Liaoyu Xiaoyuzhou” is capable of presenting a rich, multidimensional “persona” in human interactions, featuring thinking processes, linguistic expression, and empathetic abilities that align more closely with human logic.When using "Liaoyu Xiaoyuzhou," users can also customize personalized roles, allowing each individual to find a confidant better suited to their needs.

JD Health Psychological Service Center’s AI Psychological Companion Product “Liaoyu Xiaoyuzhou”

In addition to directly serving consumer users through the JD Health Psychological Service Center, future upgrades to “Liao Yu Xiao Yu Zhou” can be applied in various other scenarios, such as: preventing adolescent psychological issues and conducting mental health education on campuses; assisting with psychological assessments and cognitive behavioral therapy in medical institutions; supporting employee mental well-being and reducing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) costs in enterprises; and helping government departments conduct resident mental health screenings and initial interventions.

The Value of AI-Powered Psychological Companionship in Enhancing the Mental Health Service System Is Evident.

The most direct approach is the rapid response to users' psychological distress.In traditional psychological counseling, patients must schedule appointments with counselors in advance. Should sudden distress occur, particularly during the night when psychological issues arise, individuals are often left without immediate support—a predicament that persists even in the internet age. After all, qualified psychological counselors are scarce, and few are available on a 24-hour basis.

AI-powered psychological companionship can truly provide 24/7 ubiquitous support. Empowered by AI, timely and empathetic responses are expected to minimize the risk of self-harm and other adverse outcomes stemming from users’ psychological issues.

Secondly, supplement resource supply and promote balanced allocation of resources.In recent years, the state has attached great importance toEmphasisPublic Mental Health Services: The Past Five Years Have Seen the Most Intensive Period of Mental Health Policy Issuance by Various Departments. Nevertheless, issues such as the imbalance between supply and demand for mental health services and uneven regional distribution persist, and resolving these challenges cannot be achieved overnight.

In recent years, mental health services under the “Internet Plus” trend have improved the efficiency of supply-demand matching, alleviating the aforementioned issues to some extent. AI-powered psychological companionship can provide 24/7 responsiveness and deliver one-to-many services simultaneously, further contributing to the supplementation and optimized allocation of mental health resources. For complex cases, AI psychological companions can promptly refer users to counselors or physicians for assessment and personalized intervention.

If high-quality AI psychological companions are widely deployed, they can also enhance the public’s mental health literacy.According to the “Healthy China Action (2019–2030),” the level of mental health literacy among Chinese residents was 12% in 2018, with a target of increasing it to 30% by 2023.

Mental health literacy refers to the ability of individuals to comprehensively apply mental health knowledge, skills, and attitudes to maintain and promote their psychological well-being. Although this concept may appear abstract, it is crucial in determining whether the general public can recognize abnormal psychological conditions in themselves or those around them, proactively seek professional help upon detecting such abnormalities, and overcome stigma to adopt a more normalized perspective on mental and psychological issues. During psychological interventions, AI-based emotional companions efficiently disseminate mental health-related knowledge, thereby subtly enhancing the public’s mental health literacy.

“Liaoyu Xiaoyuzhou” is able to engage in communication that better aligns with human logic, thanks to its underlying technological infrastructure.

This product has iterated upon the Jingyi Qianxun large model to develop an anthropomorphic large model, featuring five core capabilities: reasoning and knowledge represent the general capabilities of large models, while personality, interpersonal interaction, and morality primarily reflect anthropomorphic characteristics. Specifically, personality refers to the setting and cognition of self-identity, embodying attitudes, character, and viewpoints; interpersonal interaction involves real-time emotion detection during user conversations and delivering empathetic responses; and morality ensures that dialogues adhere to universal ethical standards, thereby guaranteeing ethical safety.

Currently, the general-purpose large models commonly used across various industries are primarily designed to process information and perform specific functions, demonstrating intelligence, logic, and knowledge, with a focus on task completion;In contrast, anthropomorphic large language models prioritize emotional value by embodying emotions and personality. They focus on simulating human communication processes and empathetic capabilities, making them more suitable for applications in psychological services.

Furthermore, “ChatHeal Universe” combines the intelligence of the Jingyi Qianxun large model and the JD Lingxi large model, integrating professional medical and health knowledge, including medical textbooks, clinical guidelines, and disease encyclopedias. The exclusive AI capabilities and service competencies accumulated by JD Health in its actual business operations have also played a positive role, such as depression screening, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) assessment, disease screening, and AI skin analysis. These multi-faceted capabilities are all integrated into this digital human application platform for psychological well-being.

To deliver a more human-centric user experience, “Liaoyu Xiaoyuzhou” will continue to undergo iterative updates., for example: enriching communication methods to achieve multimodal interactions through text, images, voice, and video; building exclusive, personalized long-term memory to better maintain ongoing emotional engagement with users; deeply integrating other service roles such as physicians, pharmacists, and nutritionists to form a health-focused AI advisory team that more comprehensively addresses users' health needs; and incorporating cognitive behavioral therapy into specific scenarios to provide timely intervention for users' psychological issues.

AI-powered psychological companionship products are merely a microcosm of “AI + mental health” applications.

AI can play specific roles in various aspects of mental health services, such as multimodal data collection based on smartphones and wearable devices, and efficient data processing, analysis, and mining through deep learning algorithms and natural language processing technologies.

Tian Chenghua, Chief Physician at Peking University Sixth Hospital and a member of the Clinical Psychologist Registration System of the Chinese Psychological Society, further stated that in the realm of psychological testing, large model applications can replace more than half of manual operations, significantly enhancing accessibility and efficiency. Additionally, AI can assist psychiatrists in formulating treatment plans, thereby markedly improving the quality of care.

In recent years, JD Health has also been innovatively exploring the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as AI and big data into the field of mental health.

In 2020, JD Health established its Mental Health Center to explore innovative internet-based healthcare service models for psychiatric and psychological specialties. In 2023, the JD Health Mental Health Center was upgraded to the “JD Health Psychological Service Center,” accelerating the iteration of AI technologies and products.

In July 2023, JD Health’s independently developed digital therapeutic product, the “Sleep Monitoring Data Processing Software,” received approval for a Class II medical device license from China’s National Medical Products Administration. This product facilitates comprehensive monitoring of physiological indicators throughout the sleep cycle, providing precise reference data to support clinical diagnosis and treatment by physicians as well as consultations by psychological counselors.

In August 2023, JD Health launched a multimodal auxiliary diagnostic tool for depression at its Psychological Service Center. This tool identifies users’ facial expressions, voice patterns, and somatic states, enabling more realistic online user information collection and helping to improve the quality and efficiency of psychological counseling and online diagnosis and treatment.

Furthermore, JD Health’s Mental Health Service Center has also integrated AI technology into various tools used across triage, auxiliary diagnosis, rehabilitation, and intervention processes.

Technology serves people and services; “AI + Psychology” is not merely a simple addition.

JD Health’s Mental Health Service Center has deeply integrated AI and other technologies into its services, establishing a comprehensive system for full-course, full-cycle management that spans public science education, psychological screening, psychological assessment, psychological counseling, treatment of mental disorders, and rehabilitation follow-up, thereby becoming an innovative model for digital and intelligent mental health services.

Specifically, the JD Health Psychological Service Center can precisely match clients with counselors and provide personalized services.

On the basis of rigorously selecting psychological counselors, JD Health’s Psychological Service Center collects and displays as much information as possible to facilitate more open mutual understanding and precise matching between counselors and clients; it provides richer introductions and specialty tags on counselor profile pages and leverages digital algorithms for match recommendations.

In October 2023, JD Health’s Psychological Service Center also launched specialized clinics focusing on intimate relationships, sleep disorders, and adolescent psychology, helping users more quickly find the most suitable counselor or physician and receive personalized care.

The Center leverages a digital platform to integrate assessment and screening, psychological counseling, and psychiatric diagnosis and treatment services.

Just as the body requires regular physical examinations, mental health also warrants periodic “check-ups.” Psychological assessment is one of the flagship services offered by the JD Health Mental Health Service Center. Through online psychological testing, counseling interviews, and comprehensive psychological assessment reports, this service helps users gain self-awareness, identify issues, and receive timely intervention, serving as an efficient and cost-effective approach to mental “check-ups.” The results from these assessments can also provide detailed and precise evidence to guide subsequent interventions by psychological counselors or physicians.

Meanwhile, the JD Health Psychological Service Center offers a distinctive “Expert Team” service. For many patients with mental disorders, combining medication/physical therapy with psychological counseling can achieve better treatment outcomes.

JD Health’s Mental Health Service Center has onboarded over 6,000 psychiatrists from renowned hospitals and more than 1,000 professional psychological counselors. In September 2023, the Center launched “Physician + Counselor” expert teams and a bidirectional referral mechanism, establishing a tripartite multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment model integrating “physicians, medication, and psychological counseling.” This framework ensures efficient connectivity and referrals for psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, psychological counseling services, or combined consultations, thereby safeguarding treatment continuity and enhancing overall therapeutic outcomes.

The center also ensures the standardization, quality, and safety of digital-intelligent psychological services through expert consensus, standardized diagnosis and treatment pathways, and other measures.

As early as 2021, JD Health joined forces with five major psychiatric specialty associations—the Chinese Society of Psychiatry of the Chinese Medical Association, the Psychiatric Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, the Psychiatric Hospital Branch of the Chinese Hospital Association, the Mental Health Branch of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, and the Basic and Clinical Psychiatry Branch of the Chinese Neuroscience Society—to jointly release the Expert Consensus on Internet Diagnosis and Treatment in Specialized Psychiatry. This initiative aimed to establish an online certification system and standardize physicians’ online diagnostic and treatment practices.

At the launch event for “Chat Therapy Universe,” JD Health’s Mental Health Service Center joined forces with industry experts to establish a Service Quality Management Committee and released standardized diagnosis and treatment pathways, further strengthening the standardization and quality of online mental health services.

Overall, at the JD Health Psychological Service Center, users with diverse mental health needs can access high-quality, safe, and tailored services. Users seeking emotional companionship or stress relief can use the “Chat Healing Universe” feature, undergo psychological assessments, or be matched with the most suitable psychological counselor for consultation. Patients with psychiatric or psychological disorders can receive comprehensive, personalized mental health services through a tripartite multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment model.

With the development of new-generation information technology, the digitalization and intelligent transformation of mental health services has become an inevitable trend, creating opportunities for innovation in online specialized care.

As previously mentioned, top-tier universities playing a leading role in academia are increasingly optimistic about the integration of “AI + Psychology.” Notably, on April 18, 2024, Tsinghua University established its Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science. By integrating psychology with cognitive science, brain science, and artificial intelligence, the department focuses on developing secondary disciplines such as general psychology and cognitive psychology. It aims to pioneer new frontiers in cognitive science research dedicated to understanding the nature of intelligence, provide new research paradigms and experimental techniques for studying the cognitive neural mechanisms of psychology, and address fundamental psychological questions—such as the origins of consciousness and the essence of intelligence—through “new technologies.”

On April 7, Shanghai Jiao Tong University established a School of Psychology, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary integration with artificial intelligence (AI). The school aims to explore AI applications in psychological counseling, psychotherapy, and emotion recognition, thereby fostering mutual advancement and collaborative development between psychology and AI.

Two prestigious universities established independent departments within the same month, focusing on exploring “AI + Psychology,” which clearly demonstrates the strong driving force behind innovation and transformation in the industry.

As an industry participant, JD Health’s Psychological Service Center has not only established a digital and intelligent mental health service platform but also leverages numerous advantages. For instance, it applies technologies such as user behavior analysis and personalized recommendation algorithms from e-commerce platforms to match users with the most suitable service providers and content. Furthermore, by relying on JD Health’s other internet-based medical and healthcare resources, it closely integrates mental health services with related offerings such as physical examinations, chronic disease management, and nutritional counseling, thereby accumulating and mining health data from multiple dimensions.

On one hand, leveraging its existing platforms and advantages, JD Health serves as both a developer and promoter of “AI + Mental Health” technologies and an end-user, with research and application mutually reinforcing each other to become a driving force behind the industrial transformation of the “AI + Mental Health” sector.

On the other hand, following its dermatology hospital initiative, JD Health has refined a sustainable model for specialized internet-based medical services in the field of mental health. This development helps facilitate the replication and validation of more innovative online specialized services and provides a reference for the internet healthcare industry.