Those big moves have had varying degrees of success.

In 2014, Alibaba announced a “future hospital” plan intended to make treatment more efficient by allowing patients to consult with doctors online and order drugs via the internet. But two years later, Chinese regulators stopped the sale of over-the-counter drugs on Tmall, Alibaba’s e-commerce website. They also suspended a drug-monitoring system that the company had created. And last year, the search engine company Baidu scrapped its internet health care service, which allowed patients to book doctors appointments through an app, in a bid to focus solely on A.I.

But some of the more recent initiatives have made inroads. Last year, Alibaba’s health unit introduced A.I. software that can help interpret CT scans and an A.I. medical lab to help doctors make diagnoses. About a month later, Tencent unveiled Miying, a medical imaging program that helps doctors detect early signs of cancer, in the southwestern region of Guangxi. It is now used in nearly 100 hospitals across China.

Tencent has also invested in WeDoctor Group, which has opened its own take on Alibaba’s “future hospital” in northwestern China. The service allows patients to video chat with doctors and fill their prescriptions online.

Advances in artificial intelligence have already been transformative for China’s overworked doctors.

Dr. Yu Weihong, an ophthalmologist at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said she used to take up to two days to analyze a patient’s eyes by scrutinizing grainy images before discussing her findings with colleagues and writing up a report. Artificial intelligence software currently being tested by the hospital helps her do all that dramatically faster.

“Now, you don’t even need a minute,” she said.

The software has been developed by VoxelCloud, a start-up has raised about $28.5 million from companies including Tencent and the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. It specializes in automated medical image analysis, helping eye doctors like Dr. Yu screen patients for diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness among China’s working-age population.