Li Shubin of Meituan: The First Step for Catering Businesses to Embrace AI Is Information Digitization

According to reports, at the 2026 China Restaurant Chain Summit, Li Shubin, Senior Vice President of MiTuo, delivered a keynote speech titled "Let AI Understand Your Store." He pointed out that the first task for catering merchants entering the AI era is not to pursue high-end technological upgrades, but to consolidate the most fundamental "local life information infrastructure."

Core Ideas: AI Doesn't Know What the Physical World Looks Like

Li Shubin analyzed the changes in consumer behavior patterns in the AI era:

Complexification of Needs: Consumers are shifting from simple "keyword searches" to "complex multi-intent expressions" (e.g., recommending a French restaurant that is pet-friendly, offers sunset views, and has an average cost of less than 200 RMB).

Reconstruction of Recommendation Logic: AI models do not directly interact with the physical world. If the business information of stores (such as dish features, real-time inventory, environmental tags, etc.) is not accurately and comprehensively digitized, AI will not be able to precisely match and recommend to customers among massive data.

Strategic Investment: Dazhong Dianping Adds 3 Billion to Upgrade "Infrastructure"

To provide a solid "real information foundation" for large AI models, MiTuo and its affiliated platforms are increasing their investments:

Focusing on the Foundation:Dazhong Dianping has already invested hundreds of billions of yuan in the digitalization of information about the physical world.

Additional Budget: In 2025, it was officially announced that over the next five years, at least 3 billion yuan will be added to specifically upgrade the "local life information infrastructure."

Product Innovation: The platform will continuously innovate tools to help merchants convert real store details into data assets that can be recognized by AI.

Future Vision: Every Merchant Will Have an "AI Assistant"

MiTuo is committed to lowering the threshold for merchants to use new technologies:

Online Platform:Beijing San Kuai Technology Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of MiTuo) will provide more quality online operating platforms for long-term operating merchants.

All-AI: The platform plans to help every merchant on the platform use a dedicated "AI assistant," assisting them in handling complex customer needs and in-store operations.

Conclusion: The Last Mile from "Digitalization" to "Intelligence"

As Li Shubin said, the threshold for the catering industry to embrace AI lies not in algorithms, but in data. When the real physical space is accurately mapped to the digital world, AI can truly become a super bridge connecting restaurants and diners.

World's First! China Launches 'Panzhi Yuhen Carbon Accounting Model': Accurately Portraying Global Carbon Footprints

The Shanghai Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, launched the world's first all-round carbon emission accounting system, 'Panzhi Yuhen Carbon Accounting Model', achieving a technological breakthrough from 'following the trend' to 'reconstructing the paradigm'. This system breaks through the barriers of traditional carbon accounting through the integration of data, algorithms, and computing power, solving bottlenecks such as high knowledge barriers, slow data updates, and low resolution, and building a solid underlying support system.

Alibaba AI Architecture Restructuring! Fei-Fei Li Appointed as CTO of Alibaba Cloud, Tongyi Lab Promoted to Large Model Business Division

Alibaba announced an organizational restructuring, with the core focus on accelerating AI development. CEO Wu Yongming announced in an internal letter the establishment of the Group Technology Committee and the upgrading of business departments, marking the beginning of a fully accelerated AI era. The most attention-grabbing news is the joining of global top scientist Fei-Fei Li as CTO of Alibaba Cloud, who will be responsible for all technical aspects and AI cloud infrastructure of Alibaba Cloud.

Google Search AI Overview Accuracy is Only 90%, Easily Affected by False Information

According to The New York Times, the accuracy of Google's AI Overview feature is about 90%. With Google's annual search volume exceeding 5 trillion searches, this means that millions of incorrect answers may be generated every hour, and nearly a million pieces of incorrect information per minute. An assessment by startup company Oumi showed that the accuracy of Google's Gemini model increased from 85% in October last year to 91% in February this year.