Ant Group launches recruitment program for top AI talent, ramping up efforts in AI innovation

Global technology provider Ant Group has launched Plan A, a recruitment program to attract top AI talents, as the company intensifies efforts in AI-driven innovation. 

Under the framework of Ant Star, the company’s year-round campus recruitment scheme, Plan A aims to attract top AI talents who are ambitious, adaptable, and altruistic. STEM graduates from leading global universities specializing in fields such as computer science, software engineering, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, information and telecommunication engineering, mathematics, statistics, and other emerging interdisciplinary areas are encouraged to apply for Plan A. 

Plan A offers candidates flexible and comprehensive resources. These include unlimited access to advanced AI development infrastructure and personalized career trajectories that prioritize research autonomy. Furthermore, Ant Group has curated a mentorship network of renowned experts to offer hands-on guidance, fostering participants’ professional and academic growth.

“As artificial intelligence is finally on the verge of becoming general-purpose, fulfilling long-tail demands to provide personalized services to everyone can be achieved with nearly no marginal cost,“ remarked He Zhengyu, Chief Technology Officer of Ant Group. “At Ant Group, we are committed to investing in the advancement of AGI technologies, and collaborating with industries to ensure its inclusivity. World-class technological challenges require top talents, and we look forward to welcoming enthusiastic and talented graduates to join us.”

Advancing the company’s AI First strategy launched in 2023, Ant Group has been beefing up R&D efforts, making breakthroughs along the way. 

In March 2025, CNBC reported that Ant Group is combining U.S. and Chinese accelerator chips to cut AI development costs and reduce reliance on a single supplier like Nvidia, using a “mixture of experts” technique that slashed training expenses by 20%. The firm also unveiled upgraded healthcare AI tools, now deployed in seven major Chinese hospitals, integrating models such as Alibaba’s Qwen, DeepSeek, and its proprietary BaiLing. 

The company has been using AI to develop enterprise solutions not only for its own operations, but also for businesses in various sectors, like healthcare. For example, in March 2025, the company announced major upgrades to its comprehensive suite of AI solutions for the healthcare sector. SCMP reported that by April 2025, the company had launched nearly 100 AI “doctor agents” on its Alipay app, modeled after real physicians from top Chinese hospitals, enabling 24/7 text/audio consultations, medical report analysis, and offline appointment bookings. Built on Ant’s proprietary medical AI model, these agents target chronic diseases and oncology, aiming to streamline access to quality healthcare. The move follows Ant’s acquisition of online doctor platform Haodf in January, which aids 290,000 doctors in tasks like record management. The firm also offers a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server to enable AI agents and developers to integrate payment services via natural language commands. Dubbed a “USB-C port for AI applications”, the server streamlines AI agent deployment for merchants and developers.

In 2025, Clarivate, an IP agency that identifies and ranks organizations leading the world in technology research and innovation, named Ant Group a Top 100 Global Innovator for the fourth consecutive year, with 34,576 patent applications worldwide, 97% of which are invention patents.