Visitors seen at an exhibition booth of Chinese intelligent automation platform Laiye during the 5th Digital China Summit in Fuzhou, Fujian province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese company Laiye doubling down on building digital workforces

Chinese intelligent automation platform Laiye is doubling down on building digital workforces powered by artificial intelligence agents, as part of its broader drive to enhance productivity, liberate people from repetitive work and bolster enterprises' digital transformation.

Wang Guanchun, chairman and CEO of Laiye, said, "We're entering a new era where AI agents will take on real work at scale," highlighting that there are huge opportunities in bolstering the application of AI agents in a wide range of sectors like manufacturing.

Wang estimated that all Fortune 500 companies will have more digital workers than human workers and 90 percent of knowledge work will be executed autonomously by AI agents, while emphasizing that human society will enter into the era of the AI agent economy.

AI agents have gained worldwide attention and witnessed explosive growth this year. The term refers to a system or program that is capable of autonomously performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system by designing its workflow and utilizing available tools.

AI agents are more advanced than chatbots because they not only provide suggestions or answers, but autonomously execute complex actions across a multitude of industries, delivering tangible results.

Pre-dating the generative AI boom, Laiye built solutions via chatbots, robotic process automation and document automation. Wang said the company has been engaged in digital employees for many years and currently, with the stronger inference and planning capabilities of large language models, AI agents have become the carriers of new digital workers.

He noted that Laiye has always attached great importance to product innovation and research and development inputs. Its value proposition is to empower every employee with AI agents, boost productivity and creativity, and build a future-ready workforce for businesses.

The company's work execution platform is designed to enable governments and enterprises to build digital workforces powered by large language models. Bridging the work execution gap at individual and organization levels, Laiye helps accelerate the digital transformation from robotic automation to intelligent automation with AI agents.

"We have seen the emergence of many outstanding Chinese AI startups. In the future, there may be more innovative companies in the field of AI application," Wang said. The fierce competition in China's AI sector has promoted the iteration and upgrade of technology. "Therefore, some unexpected innovations will occur."

Wang said he is very confident in China's innovation capabilities in AI, including its competitiveness in the world, and the country's top-tier AI model companies have done very well in open-sourced large language models. He also underscored the importance of ensuring data security and protecting personal privacy.

When asked about the company's overseas expansion plans, Wang said Laiye will expand its footprint in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as in countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia.

AI is not to replace or compete with humans, but to collaborate and coexist. For individuals, AI-powered digital workers save employees from repetitive and mechanical tasks. They are supplements to humans' limited abilities and insights, while for organizations, the combination of digital and human employees can enliven and innovate business, and optimize the workflow, according to the company.

Global consultancy Gartner predicts that by 2028, at least 15 percent of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI. Further emphasizing the technology's potential, the consultancy has named it a top strategic technology trend in 2025.

It added that AI agents can plan and automate tasks, make informed decisions and interact with their surroundings. Tech services leaders can help clients revolutionize their operations by integrating AI agents into offerings that are configured with components designed for their primary purpose.

Moreover, Laiye recently unveiled its enterprise-level AI agent matrix designed for diverse application scenarios. Built on the Laiye work execution platform, the new AI agents integrate large language models, robotic process automation, intelligent document processing and native AI capabilities to deliver measurable outcomes across end-to-end business processes.

The company will continue working with customers and partners worldwide to realize its vision of "AI Agents for Everyone", helping enterprises build high-efficiency, AI-driven operations for the next generation of intelligent work.