Tencent shares rose as much as 8% on Tuesday after a report said the company was testing a prototype AI agent for WeChat.

The report added that Tencent planned to begin the compliance process as early as this month before moving to limited external testing.

In China, generative AI services offered to the public generally must complete a security assessment before launch and are tied to an algorithm filing system, making compliance a regulatory hurdle before a broader rollout.

The product would tap WeChat’s ecosystem of 1.4 billion active users, mini programs, payments, content, and commerce.

WeChat had 4.1 million registered mini programs by 2023, more than US$400 billion in annual mini-program transactions in 2021, and 935 million active WeChat Pay users in 2023.

The launch would expand Tencent’s consumer AI push as domestic rivals have already rolled out large assistants.

Alibaba’s Quark reached close to 150 million monthly users worldwide, while ByteDance’s Doubao had almost 100 million, according to recent reports.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

Recent Tencent developments