Foreign media reports: Tencent is secretly developing a WeChat AI agent, which may be rolled out to all users this year.

PANews reported on March 11th that, according to Jinshi, The Information, citing four sources familiar with the matter, stated on Tuesday that Tencent (00700.HK) is secretly developing an AI agent for its WeChat app, planning to launch it to all users in the third quarter of this year. This Tencent agent will be embedded in WeChat, connecting to millions of mini-programs through conversations. It can replace users in completing tasks such as ordering rides and food delivery, replacing 1.4 billion monthly active users in completing these tasks autonomously, directly challenging the first-mover advantage of Alibaba (BABA.N) and ByteDance. The report quoted two people familiar with Tencent's senior management as saying that Tencent cannot risk damaging WeChat's massive user experience with immature technology. In May 2024, Tencent launched the standalone AI application Yuanbao, but the market response was lukewarm.