Original · Unique Research · 2026-05-06
Editor's note: This is an event announcement article. All pricing figures, revenue claims, efficiency metrics and attendee affiliations are the source's or organizers' statements, not independently audited findings. Doubao's stated pricing tiers (Standard 68 RMB, Enhanced 200 RMB, Pro 500 RMB) and its "permanently free" response are preserved as reported, without inferring current pricing status. The event date (May 21, 2026) and venue (Westin Shenzhen Yitian Hotel) are as stated in the source. Company and personal names are transliterated where official English forms remain unverified. The source is dated May 6, 2026.
DAY 1 · UNIQUE GO
The Moment Doubao Started Charging, Many People's Business Models Had to Change Too
As Token begins to be truly priced, AI products' pricing logic, cost structures and business models all need to be recalculated.
A few days ago, Doubao quietly posted its pricing standards on the App Store.
Standard version 68 RMB, Enhanced version 200 RMB, Pro version 500 RMB. It hit number one on hot searches, and the comments section exploded—some cursed, some cheered, and some even asked Doubao "are you starting to charge?" But Doubao said: I'm permanently free.
Even ByteDance has started charging, which means compute costs have become so high that no one can keep absorbing them.
Token has begun to be truly priced.
What does this mean for people making AI products? Is your pricing model correct? Is your cost structure healthy? What exactly are users willing to pay for? If your product logic is built on the premise that "AI features are free," you may need to rethink it now.
This is just one of several things happening simultaneously in the AI industry this year.
At the same time, there's another phenomenon: a group of teams, with just over ten people, no top-tier financing, and no strongest model, have already surpassed 10 million RMB in overseas revenue. You may have never heard of their products.
What they're doing is completely different from what most people imagine as "going overseas"—not building a platform first and then finding users, but cutting into extremely narrow scenarios, directly collecting money overseas, and validating before talking about anything else.
Those that haven't broken through yet are stuck in highly similar places: choosing the wrong market, failing to get the traffic logic working, doing localization that achieves nothing, and being unable to tell a clear globalization story to investors.
On May 21, in Shenzhen, we'll break this question apart and discuss it.
2026 Unique Awards · Day 1, Theme: From Concept to Taste · Innovation, Construction, From 0 to 1.
No trends—just how people are already doing it.
Day 1 · Agenda
Day one features keynote speeches from Unique Research, Baidu, and Aishi Technology, as well as 8 roundtable discussions.
Roundtable 1 | Token Economy
Compute Power and Token Become the New Currency—How Will They Reshape AI Business Models?
After Token is priced, AI products' pricing logic, cost structures and business models all need to be recalculated. In the past, the internet spoke in terms of traffic; today, compute power, inference efficiency, and context length are becoming new core resources—how to convert this logic into a profitable product, this session will settle the accounts.
Roundtable 2 | Mastering Engineering
The Evolution of Human-Machine Collaboration and Real-World Implementation Challenges
The word Agent has been said too many times this year.
But after real implementation, everyone finds that the difficulty is never technology, but: how should this thing be connected into the company's existing systems and processes? Who is responsible? Who do you go to when something goes wrong? This session discusses teams that are actually running, and how they solved these problems.
Roundtable 3 | Hardware Awakening
How Will China's Supply Chain Define the Next Generation of Global Consumer Electronics?
Teams doing AI hardware overseas most often mention this advantage: in Shenzhen, you can source all components in 48 hours, rapidly prototype, and rapidly deliver. This speed cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.
But how long can the supply chain advantage last? Which direction will next-generation consumer electronics product forms take? This roundtable will bring these questions to the table.
Roundtable 4 | Office Evolution
When AI Shifts from Copilot to Digital Employee
Some companies are already using AI to run sales leads, do customer service, write operations daily reports, and do data analysis—not to assist humans, but to directly replace positions that originally required people. Organizational structures are quietly changing, and so is the logic of employing people. This session discusses the teams at the forefront and what their current state looks like.
Roundtable 5 | Sensory Reconstruction
How Can AI Vision and Multimodal Content Production Achieve a Commercial Closed Loop Overseas?
Text-to-video has allowed a group of teams doing short-drama overseas to reduce content production costs by 40% to 70%, with efficiency improved 6-fold. But technology cost reduction is only the first step; the real difficulty is running the business model of advertising, subscriptions, and distribution overseas. This session is dedicated to拆解 this problem.
Roundtable 6 | Healing Algorithms
How Can AI Emotional Companionship and Smart Wearables Hit Overseas Niche Circles?
AI products in the emotional companionship category are growing fiercely in some overseas markets, with payment rates exceeding many people's expectations. What users are buying is, on the surface, a product that can chat, but in reality a sense of companionship they cannot get elsewhere. This demand is real, but how to productize it and how to combine it with wearable devices to create differentiation is the core of this session.
Roundtable 7 | Stepping Out of the Giants' Shadow
How Can Vertical-Scenario AI Products Find Their Moat?
As large models get stronger, people making vertical products get increasingly anxious—will the thing I'm building today be casually done by OpenAI in six months?
There is no standard answer to this question, but there are some surviving samples. This roundtable discusses teams that have established themselves in vertical scenarios and how their moats were actually built.
Roundtable 8 | OPC Dividends
The Agile Overseas Breakthrough Path of Super Individuals and AI Geek Teams
A single person or a team of three to five people, using AI tools to pry open overseas markets, is no longer an isolated case—it is a phenomenon occurring densely. How do they find their entry point, how does traffic work, and how do they rapidly validate with insufficient money and people—this session is all frontline experience.
Who Will Be on Site for the 3-Day Event?
We have invited a large number of entrepreneurs, product leads, and industrial companies actually fighting on the AI front lines.
Show3D Co-founder He Shan, Biyou Technology Founder Zhou Ze'an, Halo Founder Joe, Weilai Qiusuo Founder Wan Songling, 94AI Founder Peter, FOSHO Founder Charley, AllyClaw Founder Alex, Qiyu Shuke Founder Shen Yang, PhotoG Founder Liu Kun, Zenkit Founder Wang Weiyang, Buda Founder Kelly, Thinkla CEO Shi Yi, Kuse.ai Founder Wu Xiankun, Senluo Zhihui Founder Yin Tianming, Zhishu Yinli Founder Yu Beichuan, Botlearn Founder Li Kejia, Kuaijuece Founder Li Shaohui, Clacky Founder Li Yafei, Baiguoyuan Technology Center Ecosystem Lead Zhang Weili, Juewei Group Chief Digital Intelligence Growth Officer Chen Pengfei, Zhidun Technology Founder Li Biao, Bazuayu Chen Li, QuickCEP Founder Chen Guang, Kuangye Qunxing Founder Liu Rushan, Nuomibao Founder Chen Ming, Weilaishi Intelligent Founder Yang Jinsong, LynxAI Founder Zhang Keyi, AhaLab Co-founder Wang Jiancong, Monica Wang Shiyao, Swedish entrepreneur Benjamin Klingsbo, Bernie, Asian AI Startup Fund Founder Zeneth Wong, Nuoda Robotics CEO Albert Lam, Arsk Sound-Form Creative Brand Founder Anthony Aurelien Ribout, VenturePort Venture Platform Founder Winson Kwok, OneOneTalk AI Teaching Platform CEO Richard Zhao, Shenzhen Bi'an Xinzhi Technology CEO Sun Haiyang, AGI Villa Co-founder Darren Su Peng, Tencent Research Institute Senior Researcher Yu Yi, No Capital Co-founder Pucs, User Strategy and PMF Expert Gao Lei, Mengli Chuangxin Founder & CEO Ryan Juran, Yisi Tennis Robot Founder CG, Founder & Curator Patric Yang Gang, Spiral Inc Founder Ark Zhang Zifeng, Tango AI Founder Noah Zeming, SeeMe AIGC Photography Workflow Software Founder & CEO Veve Li Jingyi, Zhishu Yinli (Superlinear) Co-founder, as well as core team members from companies including Molian Technology, Yixuan Technology, and others.
Among them are entrepreneurs making AI products and hardware, frontline decision-makers responsible for enterprise digitalization, and practical teams doing overseas growth.
Register Now
2026 Unique Awards · Shenzhen · Day 1
Unique Go — AI Globalization Product Summit
Date: May 21, 2026 (Thursday)
Venue: Westin Shenzhen Yitian Hotel
Organizer: Unique Research
The event is free, by application review. Confirmation email sent upon approval.