Tencent is reportedly opening WeChat to smartphone AI assistants in China, allowing built-in tools from Honor, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo to send messages and start voice or video calls.

Honor has already added the feature to some devices through YOYO, its AI assistant.

The move matters because WeChat has about 1.34 billion users.

Its mini-program ecosystem includes roughly 4.1 million services used for shopping, payments, and other tasks.

The move marks a shift for Tencent.

The company previously blocked access from a phone linked to ByteDance’s Doubao AI assistant under high-risk security controls, showing its past reluctance to let system-level AI assistants access WeChat.

The opening comes as Tencent is reportedly building its own AI agent to help users navigate mini-programs with voice commands, suggesting it is widening access while developing its own AI layer.

The broader push comes as China’s May 8 policy framework for AI agents set boundaries around user authorization, personal information protection, and actions that exceed user consent.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

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