(Yicai Global) March 30 -- Youdao’s share price jumped in pre-market trading after a report said the education technology unit of Chinese internet giant NetEase will soon unveil a ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence for use in education. 

Youdao [NYSE: DAO] was trading 8.6 percent higher at USD8.60 a share as of 8.28 a.m. local time in New York, after having fallen 1.9 percent yesterday. The shares have jumped nearly 60 percent so far this year.

Beijing-based Youdao has finished demo models for an AI English teacher and Chinese composition correction and will start closed beta testing shortly, self-media outlet Duozhi reported today.

Named Ziyue, it will first be used as a partner for practicing oral English, a source close to Youdao said. Users will be able to have conversations with Ziyue to practice their spoken English, and the system can even guide users on how to shape their mouths to pronounce words properly, the person said.

Youdao went public in October 2019, making it the first independently listed arm of NetEase. The firm produces software and hardware aids for learning such as Youdao Dictionary, Youdao Cloud Note, and Youdao Dictionary Pen. It also runs an online learning platform for university and career courses.

Youdao’s revenue jumped 39 percent to a record CNY1.5 billion (USD217.8 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022 from a year earlier and the firm posted its first quarterly operating profit in the period, its financial report showed last month. It had revenue of CNY5 billion last year, a 25 percent gain.

Youdao spent over CNY800 million (USD116.2 million) on research and development last year, up 32 percent from 2021, mainly because of higher outlays on intelligent hardware.

Editor: Tom Litting