BE FRIENDS HLDG celebrated its sixth anniversary today. According to the company's financial report data, the full-year gross merchandise volume for 2025 reached 16.02 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 6.23%.

Cui Dongsheng, Vice President of BE FRIENDS HLDG, discussed the company's AI strategy, stating, "The advancement of artificial intelligence is an irreversible and unstoppable trend. Rather than resisting it, we should proactively consider how to participate and what value we can create. Our core approach involves first envisioning the ultimate application of AI in the marketing sector, then working backwards to understand its developmental stages, which helps us define our value proposition and implementation plan."

Focusing on the marketing domain, which includes live stream commerce, he identified three key areas for AI application. First, AI can provide precise insights into consumer demands, preferences, and feedback, which can be applied to product selection and predicting popular items. Second, in marketing planning, AI holds significant advantages in content creation. By utilizing specialized models and multi-agent systems, it can generate more professional and strategic marketing plans to enhance campaign effectiveness. Third, regarding brand and influencer management, the core of modern marketing revolves around audience engagement. AI can substantially reduce the time investment required by celebrities and influencers, thereby lowering the cost of commercial collaborations.

"Based on this, we can legitimately integrate digital avatars of celebrities into our advertising and marketing systems. Providing end-to-end services for this integration represents the core value we can create," Cui added. He further noted, "Among all MCN agencies, BE FRIENDS HLDG is relatively advanced in its AI initiatives. Last year, we invested in establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary, Mandask, focused specifically on practical AI applications. We are also promoting the adoption of AI within our internal operations. For instance, we are building an AI engine into our Friend Cloud system to handle the preliminary processing of 5 million product listings, with humans only responsible for final verification and approval. The comprehensive AI transformation of the Friend Cloud system is a key strategic focus for the group this year."

Discussing industry trends, Cui remarked, "Our industry has now entered a phase of rational prosperity. Looking back three years, the sector was both booming and chaotic, with a massive influx of participants. Many individuals earned wealth far exceeding their actual capabilities, and numerous non-compliant and illegal practices emerged. Now, the industry has matured into a stage where success depends on genuine competence, long-term development, and legitimate business practices, rather than speculation. Some perceive live stream commerce as declining or losing its appeal, but in reality, it has simply evolved into a conventional business with established infrastructure and mature models. The format of live stream commerce may change in the future and could even disappear one day, but the demand for online shopping and retail will never vanish. What BE FRIENDS HLDG is committed to is not merely live streaming, but technology-driven online retail. We will continue to evolve with the times and strengthen our foundational capabilities."

Regarding the current collaboration with Luo Yonghao, Cui responded, "Mr. Luo is our primary collaborating host, designated as the Chief Cooperation Partner of BE FRIENDS HLDG. This is the official positioning of our relationship. In practical terms, as the company's founder, even though he has stepped back from management, his personal philosophy and spirit continue to have a profound and enduring influence on BE FRIENDS HLDG."

On the topic of AI's ultimate impact on the live stream commerce industry, Cui expressed, "If the live streaming format persists, I believe a bifurcation will occur. One direction involves visual customer service-type streams, which AI can fully replace. The other direction encompasses streams focused on product promotion, emotional engagement, and driving conversions; here, hosts will be very difficult to replace with AI. There are three core reasons: firstly, the trust relationship between people is something AI cannot easily replicate. Secondly, commercial collaborations require clear accountability and legal responsibility, necessitating a defined entity, which AI cannot fulfill. Thirdly, creating atmosphere and emotional resonance involves affective elements that AI struggles to genuinely replicate. As long as these emotional needs cannot be met by AI, the trust bond between hosts and users, along with the corresponding organizational structures, will remain. Furthermore, live streaming involves extensive presentation of physical goods and real-world scenarios, which require interaction with the physical world. This aspect is also very difficult for AI to completely substitute in the short term."