Cheetah Mobile Wields the Power of AI to Transform Its Utility Apps

Cheetah Mobile Inc. (NYSE: CMCM), a leading mobile internet company that aims to provide leading apps for mobile users worldwide and connect users with personalized content on the mobile platform, has commenced the roll out of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies across most of its utility applications hoping to redefine its products further differentiating it from competitors. Currently, the Company has over 580 million active users worldwide.  AI and big data are two major focuses for Cheetah Mobile, and the company’s mobile product lineup demonstrates this strategy. India is one of its largest markets in terms of installations and active users, and exclusive features for Indian users are coming in the imminent future.

As Cheetah Mobile amplifies the use of AI technology in its apps, popular utility apps like CM Launcher, Clean Master, Security Master, CM Locker, and Cheetah Keyboard will become more personalized and faster. India is one of the company’s top performing countries for mobile tools; Cheetah Mobile is working towards localizing these apps to provide a unique experience for Indian users. These customizations include exclusive launcher app themes for festivals such as Holi. The Cheetah Keyboard app also provides highly localized language optimization options such as “Hinglish” making our keyboard one of the most efficient keyboard apps for users in India.

Flagship products such as, Clean Master, Cheetah Keyboard and CM Launcher are examples of innovative AI technology at Cheetah Mobile. With the help of AI photo search capability, Clean Master is able to scan for repeated photos and clean up images. Similarly, CM Launcher utilizes deep learning to analyze usage behavior over time to recommend personalized themes to users. This helps the users identify unique themes representing their personality. Cheetah Keyboard uses AI-powered advanced predictive text, to suggest replies and save valuable time for users. Such application of neural networks and deep learning technologies would allow Cheetah Keyboard to be one of the most technologically advanced keyboards out there. Cheetah Keyboard currently analyses data and “learns” on the basis of about 2 billion words and phrases.

Facial recognition technology is already being used in Cheetah Mobile’s Live.me social live broadcasting app, which produces more than 300,000 hours of user-generated live content each day. The technology has other uses as well, including the ability to recognize brand logos, support advertisement testing, generate user tags based on a variety of characteristics, and provide personalized content recommendations, thereby supporting all types of dynamic facial mapping.

Meanwhile, Cheetah Ads unifies Cheetah Mobile’s strengths in utility apps and mobile content under a single brand with a strong focus on bringing vertical video ads to every kind of mobile moment. Cheetah Mobile’s success with utility apps has provided the company the breakthrough point needed to expand into content and AI and take its business to the next level with attractive vertical video through Cheetah Ads.

“Artificial intelligence is changing the way we interact with our desired brands and will play a critical role in the future of customer engagement,” said Edward Sun, VP at Cheetah Mobile. “While we have made momentous advancement in building a global mobile advertising platform, we are only getting started. We believe in the ability of AI technology to unlock the potential of the modern workforce and will offer a chance to bypass competitors and disrupt the industry landscape.”

Realizing the importance of AI, Cheetah Mobile has been committed to its development since 2016. In October 2017, Cheetah Mobile invested in Beijing OrionStar, an AI technology company. Post this investment, Cheetah Mobile holds approximately 30% of equity interest in Beijing OrionStar and has a two-year warrant to subscribe to additional equity interests at the same valuation to achieve controlling position.

Beijing OrionStar has successfully developed its own far-field voice interactive operating system. The first product with Beijing OrionStar’s far-field voice interactive operating system, Xiaoya AI Speaker, was released in June 2017. In addition, Beijing OrionStar recently won an AI competition organized by Microsoft using facial recognition technology to identify celebrity photos.