China's AI Education Market Size Predicted to Exceed 799.3 Billion Yuan in 2024

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China's AI education market size is predicted to exceed 799.3 billion yuan in 2024

AI education companies that have long focused on the domestic market are accelerating their overseas expansion. It is predicted that China's AI education market size will exceed 799.3 billion yuan in 2024. Artificial intelligence is further empowering education and has become one of the hottest areas of international cooperation.

On May 29, the Ministry of Education and 17 other departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Science Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in the New Era." The document proposes to build science education venues for underdeveloped regions and schools, providing equipment, instruments, books, software, etc. It also explores the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and other technologies to improve and enhance experimental teaching, addressing the shortage of high-quality educational resources.

Industry insiders stated that AI-powered education is driving a comprehensive transformation of the traditional education system, covering teaching, management, and evaluation. With the development of AI driven by ChatGPT and the improvement of educational informatization, the education sector is expected to become a key area for AI applications. It is recommended to focus on companies with product implementation capabilities, particularly the four main application areas of AI in education.

The Ministry of Education and 17 other departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Science Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in the New Era," aiming to enhance the content and quality of science education in basic education. The guidelines emphasize the need to "enhance students' scientific literacy and nurture a group of young people with scientific potential who are willing to dedicate themselves to scientific research." Specific measures include:

• Revising and improving the curriculum standards and textbooks for science and related subjects (including information technology) in primary and secondary schools
• Exploring the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and other technologies to enhance experimental teaching, with a focus on leveraging advanced educational technologies to address the shortage of quality teaching resources in underdeveloped regions, schools, and for children with special needs
• Encouraging scientists and researchers to participate in primary and secondary science education, opening laboratories and other scientific resources to students, and organizing science summer/winter camps

The rapid development of AI technology has accelerated the wave of a new global technological revolution, making science education increasingly important in basic education. The guidelines are expected to systematically promote the implementation of science education, with a significant increase in the emphasis on advanced technologies like AI in general education. The AI education curriculum system is likely to be further improved, accelerating the popularization of AI education.

In 2023, the national level continues to emphasize the need to strengthen the construction of educational informatization and smart education scenarios in schools. On February 27, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Overall Layout Plan for the Construction of Digital China," which calls for vigorously implementing the national education digitalization strategy, improving the national smart education platform, and deepening the integration of industry, academia, and research led by enterprises. The plan also encourages universities, research institutions, and enterprises to participate in the construction of Digital China and establish a number of Digital China research bases. In March, Zhejiang Province announced that artificial intelligence would become a basic and compulsory course in primary and secondary schools, with AI content being extensively integrated into subjects like science and mathematics. The strong national demand for digital talent is expected to benefit AI training institutions. From the perspective of the smart education industry chain, the upstream consists of smart education suppliers, the midstream comprises smart education service providers, and the downstream includes smart education consumers. The upstream provides hardware and software facilities, network services, intelligent technology services, and content services. The midstream offers smart education services such as intelligent teaching, learning, examination and evaluation, management, and comprehensive solutions to the downstream. The downstream consumers include government entities (Ministry of Education), businesses (schools, educational institutions), and individuals (teachers, students, parents).

From the ecosystem perspective, the AI education industry features various players: offline education providers, online education platforms, educational informatization manufacturers, AI technology suppliers, and internet giants. These five categories of players have different development trajectories and varying degrees of market penetration. Generally, they can be divided into two representative types: education companies and AI technology providers.

Guotai Junan Securities noted that the education sector has strong financial support from education budgets and high willingness to pay among parents and students, making it one of the areas where AI technology and related products are expected to achieve large-scale commercialization the fastest.

China's smart education hardware has experienced rapid development

In the past year of 2023, China's smart education hardware saw significant growth. Companies like iFlytek, Xiaodu, NetEase Youdao, Seewo, New Oriental, and Zuoyebang launched various products, including student tablets, smart learning lamps, translation pens (also known as "scanning dictionary pens"), and electronic vocabulary cards, catering to different scenarios. From the perspective of auxiliary teaching performance, compared to products from 2022 and earlier, the current offerings are more AI-driven, easier to use, and support a broader range of learning activities. Particularly with the rise of general AI models, some products even exhibit human-like teaching assistance, significantly enhancing their ability to reduce workload and improve efficiency.

Influenced by these large models and their impact on product performance, the sales and revenue rankings of smart education hardware in 2023 have undergone notable changes.

For example, in the learning tablet segment, which is the most popular among parents and children and accounts for about 70% of the AI education hardware market, data from Jingcanmou shows that in September alone, iFLYTEK's AI learning tablet achieved a sales market share of 17.1% on JD.com, and a revenue market share of 28.4%, maintaining the top position for four consecutive months in both metrics, thanks to the strong support of the Spark large model.

Official data from iFLYTEK also indicates that after the release of the Spark large model on May 6 and its integration into their product line, the GMV of iFLYTEK's AI learning tablets grew by 136% in May and 217% in June, with a 140% increase in the third quarter.

During the 2023 Double 11 shopping festival, iFLYTEK's AI learning tablets, enhanced by the Spark large model with new features like English speaking practice, Chinese-English essay grading, interactive math tutoring, free Q&A, parenting assistant, programming assistant, creative drawing partner, and English tutoring, achieved record sales, surpassing both new and established brands to become the top-selling learning tablets on both JD.com and Tmall platforms.