(Yicai Global) Sept. 21 -- Chinese e-commerce company JD.com Inc. [NASDAQ:JD] and traditional food giant Nestle SA [SIX:NESN] unveiled the country's first voice recognition-based smart nutrition and health assistant for households, called Nestle Xiao AI, on Sept. 19.

The move comes as part of a bid to win over more younger-generation Chinese consumers.

Nestle Xiao AI is a voice-controlled interactive AI product modeled on JD.com's Dingdong speaker, which currently enjoys the largest share of the domestic smart speaker market. Xiao AI, which is available on JD.com's e-commerce platform, offers nutritional recipes specifically developed by Nestle, answers nutritional questions and also plays exclusive songs.

Nestle believes its product can provide more accurate information than those found through searching online and visiting question-and-answer websites.

Although Nestle previously offered nutrition and health information on Amazon [NASDAQ:AMZN] and similar platforms, Xiao AI is the first independently branded artificial intelligence nutrition assistant, said Rashid Aleem Qureshi, chair of Nestle Greater China.

Xiao AI is a first-generation product and the company will continue to upgrade it to meet consumer demand, Qureshi added.

Nestle hopes to reach more consumers through the AI product. "The way consumers get information is changing. They no longer just sit in front of a computer or look at a cell phone screen to receive information passively as they did in the past," he added.

All brands are exerting efforts to engage with consumers on a sustained basis, as the market is saturated with lots of consumer brands, said Fang Lv, vice president at Beijing Linglong Technology Co.

Smart speakers can help companies interact with consumers, enabling brands to directly enter consumers' living rooms via the devices and provide them with more valuable services in addition to products, Fang said.

Qureshi believes the vast Chinese market is changing quickly. His firm hopes to collect more information and data via smart devices to help it better understand Chinese consumers and offer more suitable products and solutions.