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Minxiao Chang

Tencent Holdings is opening WeChat to smartphone artificial-intelligence agents, as the Chinese tech giant fights to keep the app’s 1.4 billion users locked into its ecosystem in the AI era.
The new feature would allow a phone’s built-in voice assistant to send messages or start voice and video calls inside WeChat, according to a report on Thursday by Chinese financial news outlet Yicai.
WeChat had been working with the country’s biggest phone makers – including Huawei Technologies, Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo – to introduce the feature, the report said. Honor already rolled out the function on some of its devices, letting users control WeChat using Yoyo, the smartphone maker’s AI-powered voice assistant.
The move marks a major shift in direction for Tencent.
Globally, third-party platforms like WhatsApp have long allowed deep integration with assistants like Apple’s Siri. While Siri has been able to send WeChat messages, Tencent has historically restricted external assistants from deeply navigating its app, preferring to keep users inside its own walled garden.
Tencent was also building its own AI agent for WeChat, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources. That assistant would let users navigate millions of mini-programs – the small apps inside WeChat used for everything from ordering food to booking flights – using simple voice commands. It could start public testing as soon as this month, the report said.
The tech industry is locked in a fierce race to build AI agents – smart assistants that can jump between different apps to do chores for users. Instead of a user opening three different apps to plan a night out, a single AI assistant might look up a restaurant, message friends, and call a ride-hailing service all on its own.
This presents a unique challenge in China, where super apps run by giants like Tencent, Alibaba Group Holding and Meituan have long been the main gateways to the internet. If users start talking to AI agents instead of using these apps, the tech giants risk losing their direct connection to consumers.
Other Chinese tech companies are already making similar moves. Alibaba’s Qwen AI app now connects to outside services like food delivery and ride-hailing, while ByteDance’s Doubao app allows users to buy products directly from Douyin E-commerce.
However, giving AI agents the power to jump between different apps has raised questions about security and privacy.
This was a sensitive issue that would require tech companies to build stricter security and authorisation standards, Zhou Wei, head of Vivo’s Global AI Research Institute, was quoted as saying in a China Star Market report on Thursday.
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.


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Phone makers including Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo set to support feature that reverses past reluctance to open the super app


Phone makers including Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo set to support feature that reverses past reluctance to open the super app.


WeChat to take commands from AI assistants in major shift for Tencent

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Phone makers including Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo set to support feature that reverses past reluctance to open the super app

Phone makers including Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo set to support feature that reverses past reluctance to open the super app