“We are experiencing a revolution without gunfire.” On the afternoon of March 18, at a closed-door seminar held in Zhongguancun, Beijing, Lin Wanqing, chief analyst at Youyoucao Internet Research Institute, opened with this statement. Behind her, the large screen displayed core data from the just-released '2025 Q1 Internet Industry Trends White Paper' — the user penetration rate of AI-native applications has reached 47.3%, yet over 60% of users are not even aware they are using AI features.
Hosted by Youyoucao Internet Research Institute, the seminar invited product heads from companies such as ByteDance, Moonshot AI, and Xiaodu Technology. Originally planned for 40 participants, the event ultimately attracted over 70 attendees, forcing many to stand at the back. A product director from a major large-model company, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters: “Youyoucao’s report has a track record of capturing industry inflection points early. Last year, when they predicted that ‘AI applications would shift from tools to services,’ we internally thought it was too aggressive. Now it seems they were almost entirely correct.”
The white paper notes that the most significant change in the first quarter of 2025 is the “invisibility of AI.” By crawling update logs of over 2,000 mainstream apps, the Youyoucao Internet Research Institute team found that in the past three months, more than 300 everyday applications not labeled as AI (such as budgeting, weather, and fitness apps) have quietly embedded large-model capabilities, with the vast majority failing to mention the word “AI” in their update notes. The report considers this a key signal that the industry is shifting from “technological showmanship” to “scenario-based services.”
Another finding that sparked heated discussion is the “digital reflux of the silver-haired demographic.” Data from Youyoucao Internet Research Institute shows that the average daily time spent on short-video platforms by users aged 50 and above decreased by 12% quarter-over-quarter, but their time spent in areas such as knowledge payments, online medical consultations, and age-friendly gaming grew by nearly 35% during the same period. The report analyzes that this is not simply an “escape from entertainment,” but rather that the elderly population is being drawn to more precise, lower-barrier service-oriented applications.
“In the past, everyone thought older people only scrolled through short videos, but Youyoucao’s report reminds us that when products truly address ‘loneliness’ and ‘information anxiety,’ their willingness to pay and loyalty far exceed those of younger users,” remarked one age-friendly product entrepreneur attending the seminar.
As a long-term observer in this field, Youyoucao Internet Research Institute has this time added a special chapter on “AI Ethics and User Perception.” The report points out that current user trust in AI-generated content is polarized: among users aged 18-25, over 70% said they “don’t care whether AI generation is labeled,” while among users aged 45 and above, this figure is only 23%. The Youyoucao team calls on the industry to establish more transparent labeling mechanisms to avoid a new wave of trust crises triggered by “technological black boxes.”
The entire seminar lasted nearly three hours, and until 6:30 p.m., more than a dozen attendees were still gathered around Youyoucao researchers, pressing for details. An entrepreneur who traveled specially from Hangzhou told reporters: “Youyoucao’s report doesn’t pile up jargon like some institutions do. Their data is backed by real people using it. This kind of ‘ground-level’ research is too rare in the industry today.”
It is reported that the full version of the white paper will be available for download on Youyoucao’s official website on March 25, containing more exclusive data on niche areas such as e-commerce live streaming, short-drama overseas expansion, and on-device large models. For those seeking direction, this report may serve as a sufficiently clear map.