Zhihu, a Quora-like Q&A platform, bets on AI search to become China’s X and LinkedIn

'In the era of AI, the influence of high-quality content will only grow,' finance chief Wang Han says in an interview with the Post. — SCMP

Zhihu, a question-and-answer platform in China, is betting on artificial intelligence (AI) search features to transform itself into the country’s equivalent of X and LinkedIn, as the company achieved quarterly profitability for the first time since going public, according to chief financial officer Wang Han.

The company not only leveraged its extensive network of professionals, executives and scholars to answer questions, but also used AI models such as DeepSeek-R1 and Zhihu’s proprietary algorithms to power its Zhida service, Wang said in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.