Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 22
Tencent Tests Xiaowei AI Assistant for WeChat With Small User Group in China
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 22

Tencent Tests Xiaowei AI Assistant for WeChat With Small User Group in China

1 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 22

Summary

  • Tencent has begun testing Xiaowei inside WeChat, giving a small group of users in China access to the new AI assistant.
  • WeChat said users can interact with Xiaowei through text or voice, embedding the service directly into the country’s dominant super app.
  • The trial marks Tencent’s latest push to catch up with rivals in China’s intensifying AI race, where major internet groups are rapidly adding generative AI tools to core products.

Insights

In the AI arms race, are Chinese tech giants overlooking security flaws that could endanger billions of users?
By opening its walled garden for AI, is Tencent building a new empire or giving away the keys to its kingdom?
As AI threatens millions of jobs in China, can government policy prevent a social crisis or is mass unemployment now inevitable?