First, Tencent renamed its Hunyuan large - scale model, and then Alibaba's Qianwen exceeded 30 million monthly active users. The inevitability of AI is becoming ever - more apparent. From another perspective, the intense pursuit of AI applications by leading players underscores the robust market demand for such applications. It can be said that current AI applications, much like social media and short - videos in the past, are emerging as new avenues for players to acquire traffic.

As more players enter the fray, especially when they continuously enrich and enhance the capabilities of AI applications, we may witness a fresh round of traffic competition in the AI application space. While AI applications can indeed bring new traffic to players, their greatest function and impact may not be confined to traffic alone. Instead, it lies in the new industrial applications that emerge after traffic acquisition.

As more players focus on AI applications, we need to delve deeper into how AI can better meet the traffic demands of C - end (consumer - end) users, how it can fully leverage its functions and roles, and how it can build its own capability ecosystem. These considerations will not only determine players' success at the C - end but also influence AI's far - reaching impact and transformation on industries.

AI Capabilities Should Be More Accessible to C - End Users

In the past, when discussing large - scale models, many people associated them with AI chat. Whether it was ChatGPT or DeepSeek, they mostly followed this pattern. Admittedly, this approach can swiftly and conveniently meet user demands and their need for AI capabilities. However, as AI competition enters a new phase, especially when it becomes a new entry point for traffic and takes center stage, we need to think beyond simple chat conversations. AI should be allocated more capabilities to cater to the diverse needs of C - end users.

Under this influence, we are seeing more and more players start to unlock more functions and realize more capabilities for AI applications, making AI increasingly intelligent. In a sense, every expansion of AI capabilities is a process of increasing the scale of C - end users, optimizing their experience, and thereby enhancing user retention. Yet, these efforts are not enough on their own. We also need to make AI application capabilities more accessible to C - end users.

Only in this way can AI applications break free from being a niche existence and permeate every aspect of C - end users' work, life, and learning, truly bringing them efficiency improvements and experience optimizations. Only then can AI truly become a new infrastructure, surpass the internet, and become a new hub for C - end traffic. From this perspective, players' construction and development of AI application capabilities are crucial for their success in the fierce traffic competition. Continuous development and expansion of AI application capabilities are the keys to winning in this new C - end traffic battle.

AI Applications Need to Continuously Build Technological Barriers

Although the era of "thousand - model battles" has passed, AI applications are still emerging among different players. AI applications have become a standard feature and an essential part of every player's strategy. On one hand, players' in - depth layout of AI applications shows that it has become a standard feature and infrastructure. On the other hand, it also reveals that AI applications are no longer a highly exclusive domain.

In this context, our focus should not be on which players have joined the AI application trend but rather on how to stand out among the numerous AI applications. Ultimately, players need to continuously build technological barriers for AI applications and win the market with technology, functionality, and advantages. From the current player layouts, more and more players are delving into the core of AI applications and enhancing their advantages from the inside out.

When AI applications become a standard feature, what truly tests players is not whether they have AI applications but the technological leading edge their AI applications possess. For players, optimizing their algorithms and underlying computing power may be the key to further widening the gap between themselves and other players.

AI Applications Need to Generate More "Chemical Reactions" with Industries and Scenarios

Currently, AI is being continuously implemented and applied in various fields, including content creation, information search, and even offline practical scenarios. AI applications not only meet C - end users' new demands for industries but also significantly accelerate the speed and frequency of industrial iteration and updates. However, although AI applications have already connected with many scenarios and industries, such applications are far from reaching the maturity level of the internet.

As AI development enters a new stage, players should not only consider applying AI to specific industries and scenarios but also think about how to achieve "chemical reactions" between AI and industries/scenarios through such applications. It should be clarified that these "chemical reactions" refer more to the combination of AI with specific industries/scenarios, giving rise to new business models and ultimately paving a sustainable development path.

Therefore, for any player aiming to make a difference at this stage, the key to ensuring continued development lies in how to enable AI to co - create a complete and sustainable business model with more scenarios and industries and support its development with such a model. When AI applications and evolution are supported by commerce, their development can truly enter a new stage.

AI Applications Need to Break Free from the Internet's Cycle

As the AI era arrives, especially when it begins to exhibit differences from the internet, we must recognize that AI and the internet have fundamental differences. If we view the internet era as a consumer - driven consumer internet era, then the AI era is an industry - driven industrial internet era. Therefore, as AI development and evolution enter a new cycle, we need to think more about how to enable AI applications to break free from the internet's cycle.

To achieve this, the author believes that the most crucial point is for players to implement AI more extensively in industries and bring about a comprehensive evolution in industries through AI. Ultimately, we must avoid AI applications merely continuing internet - style business models and instead find more new development possibilities by creating entirely new AI - driven business models.

From this perspective, the current integration of AI with traditional and internet industries is just the beginning. In the future, AI needs to achieve deep integration with virtual and physical industries and create a new business model distinct from the internet era. Only when players find a suitable and distinct business model from the internet can their development truly break free from the internet's cycle and find a path suitable for themselves.

So, what kind of business model is truly suitable for AI? The author believes that a business model combining virtual and physical elements, breaking down platform and central boundaries, and achieving seamless connection between supply and demand is the truly suitable new business model for AI. Only in this way can AI development truly enter a new stage and completely break free from the internet's constraints.

Conclusion

As more players enter the AI application arena, a new battle for traffic has commenced. Through this, we not only see the strong demand for AI from C - end traffic but also witness AI becoming a new battleground for players. However, having experienced the internet era, we also recognize that AI should forge a new path with its own characteristics rather than simply replicating internet models. Continuously empowering AI with new capabilities, building its technological barriers, deepening its integration with industries and scenarios, and breaking free from the internet's cycle are the keys to winning in this new battle.