As these users may depend on the app more than people living in urban areas, Shen assured that they have complete control over the uploading and utilization of their data, including test results, prescriptions, or photos for AI-assisted interpretation through the platform's question-and-answer function. Privacy protections automatically blur sensitive information, and data is encrypted end to end, she said.

"We strictly follow the nation's legal requirements and regulations, and ensure that only the user can access their health data," Shen said. "Trust is critical when dealing with medical information."

One of the app's most unusual features is a library of "AI doctor avatars". These digital assistants are modeled on the knowledge and clinical experience of more than 1,000 physicians.

Patients can ask routine questions to these virtual doctors, while complex cases are redirected to human specialists.

"The avatars allow doctors to focus their time on difficult cases," Shen said. "At the same time, they allow patients in remote areas to interact with medical experts they might otherwise never reach."

Beyond commercial platforms, researchers are pushing the boundaries of what AI in medicine might become.

At Tsinghua University, scientists have developed an experimental system known as "Agent Hospital", where AI doctors are trained to diagnose and treat simulated patients in a fully virtual environment. The system allows multiple AI agents to collaborate, mimicking the workflows of real hospitals.

"The idea is to let AI systems learn medicine the way young doctors do, through repeated exposure to cases, decision-making, and feedback," said Liu Yang, executive dean of the Institute for AI Industry Research at Tsinghua University and the project's lead scientist.

"In a virtual setting, they can accumulate experience at a scale and speed that would be impossible in the real world," Liu said.

The project offers a glimpse of a more automated future, in which elements of medical care could be scaled far beyond the limits of human staffing.