“I used to have to go to service halls or make phone calls to check my social insurance information. Now I just open the ‘Shenzhen Human Resources and Social Security AI Steward’ WeChat mini-program, and I can complete business applications through simple Q&A—it’s so convenient!” Ms. Li, a resident of Futian District, couldn’t help praising the AI Steward service after her recent experience.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China built the world’s largest social security system with comprehensive functions and distinctive Chinese characteristics, fortifying a livelihood safety net for hundreds of millions of people. As the blueprint for the 15th Five-Year Plan takes shape, standing at a new historical starting point, the social insurance sector is advancing toward the goal of “improving a multi-tiered social security system that covers all residents, balances urban and rural development, ensures fairness and uniformity, operates in a safe and standardized manner, and is sustainable”. Efforts are also being made to enhance the accessibility, convenience and precision of services. Against this backdrop, Shenzhen’s social insurance sector has addressed development challenges through digital and intelligent empowerment, building an innovative “Five Smart” service system featuring Smart Q&A, Smart Application, Smart Review, Smart Regulation and Smart Policy Formulation with cutting-edge technologies, injecting fresh vitality into the high-quality development of social insurance undertakings.
From the “integrated Q&A and application” AI Steward on mobile phones to the initiative of “Efficiently Completing One Service at a Time”, from proactive “Smart Reminders” to perceptive “Smart Service Halls”, Shenzhen’s social insurance sector has focused on addressing the pressing difficulties and urgent needs of insured residents. By building the “Five Smart” service system with innovative technologies and creating a “15-minute convenient service circle”, it is turning the vision of “fewer trips for the public, more data sharing” into reality, and rooting people’s livelihood well-being in technological empowerment.
AI Steward + Digital Humans: 24/7 Uninterrupted Services
“What documents do I need to prepare for flexible employment social insurance registration?” “When is my pension disbursed every month?” In Shenzhen, tens of thousands of similar inquiries flood the chat box of the “Shenzhen Human Resources and Social Security AI Steward” WeChat mini-program every day.
Powered by large model technology, this “intelligent assistant” not only provides real-time online Q&A responses, but also enables “application while inquiring”. “I used to have to wait in line for hotline services to ask about policies. Now I just chat with the AI on WeChat—after clarifying the procedures, the system directly redirects me to the application page and automatically generates a document checklist, like having a personal secretary!” Mr. Zhang, an office worker in Nanshan District, exclaimed that the service saved him a great deal of trouble after his experience.
Insured residents handling offline services are also supported by advanced technologies. At 28 social insurance service halls across the city, Digital Humans answer public inquiries and guide business processing through voice interaction. Insured residents only need to state the service they wish to apply for, and the system will accurately recommend the application entry and push real-time guidance information. With an amiable image, vivid facial expressions and rich hand gestures, Digital Humans provide face-to-face guidance just like on-site staff, making public services more accessible and reassuring for the people.
Behind these conveniences lies a solid foundation laid by Shenzhen’s social insurance sector for “enhancing people’s livelihood well-being”. A knowledge base has been established by sorting out social insurance policies and regulations to ensure the accuracy of AI services, striving for AI Steward and Digital Humans to “speak every word correctly”. A robust data base has been built by aggregating massive data and setting strict verification rules, comprehensively improving the integrity and accuracy of social insurance data. The construction of these two bases ensures that all intelligent scenarios of Shenzhen’s social insurance sector share the same data source, follow unified standards and maintain high security and reliability.
“Efficiently Completing One Service at a Time”: Fewer Trips for the Public
“I used to have to visit multiple departments, fill in numerous forms and carry a whole folder of documents to apply for social insurance retirement, medical insurance retirement, housing fund withdrawal and urban one-child family planning rewards. Now I only need to submit the materials once, fill in a single form for social insurance, medical insurance, housing fund and one-child rewards, and get everything done in 15 minutes—it’s extremely convenient.” Mr. Zhang said after completing his retirement procedures.
This is an epitome of Shenzhen’s social insurance reform of “Efficiently Completing One Service at a Time”. Focusing on the needs of retired residents, Shenzhen’s social insurance sector has collaborated with medical insurance, health, housing and urban-rural development, public security and other departments to integrate 18 retirement-related services previously scattered across different departments, including pension benefit applications, medical insurance retirement formalities, housing fund withdrawal and one-child family planning reward applications, into a streamlined “one-stop retirement service”. Residents only need to go to one service window and submit materials once to complete all related procedures simultaneously. The reform covers five core service scenarios: verification and transfer of enterprise employees’ historical information, synchronized processing of pension and medical insurance retirement formalities with one-child family planning rewards, and housing fund withdrawal upon retirement under certain conditions. For example, applying for 13 related services at one time has shortened the processing time by 25 days, cutting the overall business cycle by more than one third. Up to now, 111,000 retired residents in Shenzhen have benefited from this convenient one-stop service, with about 430,000 combined business transactions processed.
In addition, the streamlined “one-stop services” for work-related injury claims and social insurance & medical insurance registration are also being promoted in parallel. The one-stop work-related injury service leverages multimodal visual language models and massive historical work-related injury case data, innovatively integrating intelligent applications such as work injury certification assistants, intelligent review robots and AI-enabled labor capacity appraisal. It provides full-process intelligent support from work injury certification to labor capacity appraisal, alleviating challenges such as inconsistent review standards and insufficient staffing.
Precision Policy Dissemination: Proactive Services for Greater Convenience and Environmental Protection
“Pending task reminder: Pension benefit qualification certification is about to expire. Description: Please complete the qualification certification in a timely manner to ensure the normal disbursement of benefits…” Recently, Ms. Lin, an insured resident, found that she regularly receives precise social insurance service reminders via WeChat, no longer worrying about missing certification deadlines.
This benefit stems from the new ecosystem of smart notification services built by Shenzhen’s social insurance sector: based on real-name authorization, WeChat proactively pushes service progress updates and reminders to users. Currently, 3.38 million people use this function, with over 5.25 million precise notifications sent to date.
“I used to have to visit service halls or check official websites to track my business progress. Now, with real-name authorization, all updates—including service progress, benefit disbursement status and qualification certification reminders—are sent directly to my WeChat. I no longer need to remember to check for updates or worry about missing important notifications, which gives me greater peace of mind.” Ms. Lin said, “This shift from passive inquiry to proactive service makes people feel more secure.”
A more thoughtful initiative is the electronic document delivery service. As the first city in Guangdong Province to realize electronic delivery of pension, unemployment and work injury insurance benefit documents, Shenzhen has seen over 750,000 enterprises and 3 million insured residents sign electronic delivery agreements, allowing them to receive and sign documents via official websites or WeChat official accounts. A total of 140,000 electronic documents have been delivered so far.
“It’s not only faster, but also more environmentally friendly—I no longer have piles of paper documents at home.” Mr. Chen’s comment echoes the feelings of many insured residents. Moreover, the move has saved over one million yuan in administrative expenses, enabling the social insurance sector to allocate more resources to livelihood services, achieving a win-win outcome of improved well-being and green development.
“Smart Service Halls”: Intuitive Needs Perception for Upgraded Service Experience
As soon as 70-year-old Grandpa Zhang walked into the Futian Branch of Shenzhen Social Insurance Bureau, a staff member approached him proactively: “Grandpa, are you here to check your pension? We have priority service windows here, and our Digital Human can also assist you with the operation.” This heartwarming moment is made possible by the precise services of the Smart Managed Service Hall: leveraging passenger flow monitoring and data analysis technologies, the hall accurately monitors its operational status, quickly identifies long waiting times, queue congestion and the needs of special groups, and sends real-time reminders for abnormal situations such as “multiple visits for the same service”, urging timely responses and proactive services.
Ms. Zhou once made multiple trips to the social insurance window to confirm application documents for fear of missing required materials. When she returned to the hall with all the documents, a staff member greeted her proactively: “We have verified your household registration information online through the public security system for the household registration documents you inquired about last time—you can complete your application today.” Thanks to the online verification of household registration information via public security interfaces, she finally completed her business in one trip. Today, the number of service complaint tickets at Shenzhen’s social insurance halls has been steadily declining, with service convenience and public satisfaction on the rise. More and more insured residents are experiencing services with warmth and well-being with substance.
From the launch of information systems in 1992 that realized a fundamental shift from manual operations to informatization, to the rollout of a new system in 2018 that laid the foundation for “city-wide universal service”, and to the synergistic application of AI Steward and Digital Humans this year that achieved “integrated Q&A and application”—this journey clearly outlines the transformation of social insurance services: from “people running errands” to “data sharing”, and from “people seeking policies” to “policies reaching people”.
Standing at the new starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, Shenzhen’s social insurance sector will continue to drive service upgrading through digital and intelligent empowerment, translating its commitment of “recording, protecting and serving people for a lifetime” into tangible happiness accessible to every insured resident.
