Since last year, the combination of 'big model + education' has been hotly promoted in the industry. It has entered the first year of the expected application of big models, and various educational technology companies have continued to land their big models.

According to Caixin reporters' observations, during the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Conference on Global Artificial Intelligence Governance (hereafter referred to as 'WAIC 2024'), many big model technologies and 'AI+' innovative applications appeared in the education vertical field, and many companies such as Netease Youdao (NYSE: DAO), Apeforce Technology, and Xuexi Think Tank successively showed their latest achievements in the field of large models.

Caixin reporters have learned the latest news that the new Youdao Dictionary Pen X7 from Netease Youdao was unveiled for the first time at this event. As the new generation of Youdao Dictionary Pen flagship X series, it is equipped with two representative native applications of 'Sub Confucius', AI General Family Teacher Youdao Xiao P, and Virtual Human Language Private Teacher Hi Echo, as well as a series of AI functions based on large models such as large model translation, achieving a scenario of generating AI through all stages from word lookup and translation to multi-disciplinary self-learning. It is reported that in November of last year, the first education big model in China, 'Sub Confucius' of Youdao, became the first batch of education big models approved by the state and has successively landed a series of applications and products. Recently, in the first round of education big model evaluation organized by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, 'Sub Confucius' successfully completed the education big model evaluation and became the first batch of enterprises in China to pass the evaluation and obtain the highest current rating.

During WAIC2024, Meng Xu, product manager of Youdao Dictionary Pen, received an exclusive interview with Caixin reporters to share the business progress of Youdao Dictionary Pen and his views on the intelligent hardware industry. Meng Xu believes that under the trend of 'big model + education', a new category of learning hardware will emerge.

The following is the transcript of the interview:

Caixin News: Education is one of the fastest-growing areas for AIGC landing push, taking learning hardware as an example. At present, what are the main aspects in which big models empower products?

Meng Xu: We all know that big models have outstanding capabilities in natural language understanding and interaction. Education and learning are scenes with high-frequency interaction and prominent demand for personalized needs, and big models can greatly improve the smoothness of interaction and meet the individualized generation needs of different users.

For example, our Youdao Dictionary Pen X7 brought this time is a learning hardware that is 'fully armed' with big models. It is equipped with two representative applications of 'Sub Confucius' education big model, AI General Family Teacher Xiao P, which can interact with users and solve various questions arising from users’ learning by means of step-by-step explanation and guided questioning. It can give more fine-grained explanations such as English grammar, ancient literature, mathematical problems, and encyclopedias. The second is the virtual human language private teacher Hi Echo. Users can freely practice spoken language with dialogue and set difficulty levels and topic types according to their own needs, and even provide exclusive training modes for children's English enlightenment, IELTS exams, and other needs. It is equivalent to an intelligent dictionary pen that can meet various scenario needs from language learning to home tutoring.

In addition, Youdao Dictionary Pen X7 is equipped with a large model translation. The professional and diversified polishing of the translation of large text or long text can be clearly perceived, and this is supported by the improvement of the big model's ability to understand the context.

Caixin News: As a relatively mature representative of intelligent learning hardware, why do you take AI as an important product strategy for Youdao Dictionary Pen?

Meng Xu: The development of hardware actually depends on both technology and cognition. On the one hand, Youdao has accumulated more than ten years of accumulation and precipitation in the translation field, which is an advantage. On the other hand, we have always placed AI technology in an important position, because AI can solve efficiency problems. In particular, the currently generated AI has brought us some new interactive experiences, and Youdao Dictionary Pen, as a ToC product, allows users to use the latest technology on this product. Based on the advantages of the two aspects, coupled with our complete hardware industrial chain, we can quickly land technologies and ideas, continuously improve the experience, and achieve a virtuous cycle to continuously create AI's achievements in education.

Caixin News: What are the innovations in form brought by this new product?

Meng Xu: Youdao Dictionary Pen X7 is the first in the industry to have an AI camera built-in, on the back of the dictionary pen. The input form of the dictionary pen before mainly relied on scanning by the front-end pen tip. There were some restrictions on the amount of information entered at a time. For example, compared with the front-end pen tip, the rear-end camera is more convenient for shooting and inputting graphics, large-format, and different materials, and can be used in some multimodal ways. In fact, this is also a development direction for big model learning hardware. We can make more convenient uses such as photographing translation, photographing answering questions, and photographing composition for correction.

Cailian press: Youdao is a leader in dictionary pens in the industry, especially since last year, it has continuously iterated and innovated its products based on AI capabilities. So, in your opinion, what are the directions or goals Youdao wants to break through in terms of technology for large model intelligent dictionary pens?

Meng Xu: Large models have brought us a lot of imagination, and the ceiling will be higher. For example, in the past, manufacturers were not very good at entering the tutoring scene because the interaction of the machine was not so natural. But with large model interactions which are very smooth and natural, the understanding of language semantics will become very strong. At the same time, text-to-speech technology is also making leaps and bounds progress, and we are continuously iterating into hardware. The rapid progress of large models will also be gradually iterated into our products.

Cailian press: In the era of large models, most tools can be downloaded and solved on mobile phone apps. How do you perceive the demand for AI dictionary pens?

Meng Xu: Dictionary pens are learning devices specially designed for children. They were already exclusive learning devices to solve specific scenarios before large models came out. Actually, parents are not willing to let their children use mobile phones because there may be some functions beyond learning. Of course, the iteration of mobile APP functions may be faster, and we also have Xiaopeng teacher on the phone. But after the large models functions came into being, we dig deeper into the learning scenarios and put them into learning hardware, making the scenarios more specialized and in-depth.

Cailian press: Many manufacturers have launched educational large model hardware products. In your opinion, what is the focus of competition in the field of educational large model learning hardware?

Meng Xu: Under the trend of "large models + education", I think the hardware forms that have already been verified by demand, such as dictionary pens, listening machines, and learning tablets, will be further updated and iterated. At the same time, with the blessing of large models, some new hardware forms may appear, and due to the more convenient access to and output of information, more smooth and personalized interaction, wearable devices may become exclusive devices in a vertical field. Many technology companies are also researching in this direction.