Tencent opens WeChat to AI assistants from Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo
Tencent has decided to permit smartphone manufacturers Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo to incorporate their native AI voice assistants with WeChat. This development facilitates actions such as sending messages and initiating voice and video calls. This marks a significant shift from Tencent's previous stance, which limited external assistants from extensively interacting with the super app, thereby maintaining a closed ecosystem. The news was disclosed by the Chinese financial news source Yicai on Thursday. In contrast, global platforms like WhatsApp have traditionally supported deep integration with assistants such as Apple's Siri, which could already send messages via WeChat, while Tencent had previously been resistant to such integration.
Key facts
- WeChat will allow AI assistants from Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo to send messages and start calls.
- The feature marks a major shift in Tencent's strategy, reversing past reluctance to open the super app.
- The report was published by Chinese financial news outlet Yicai on Thursday.
- Globally, WhatsApp and other platforms have long allowed deep integration with assistants like Apple's Siri.
- Siri could already send WeChat messages, but Tencent had restricted external assistants from deeply navigating its app.
Entities
Institutions
- Tencent
- Huawei
- Honor
- Xiaomi
- Oppo
- Vivo
- Yicai
- Apple
- Siri