Tencent adds AI chatbot friend to WeChat to keep users glued to super app

Chinese gaming and social giant Tencent Holdings has upgraded WeChat, known locally as Weixin, with new artificial intelligence (AI) features, as the country’s most valuable tech company strives to maintain the dominant role of its super app in the AI era.

Tencent recently integrated its chatbot, Yuanbao, into WeChat, enabling users to interact with the AI service without downloading a separate app and providing over a billion users easy access to its AI models. WeChat users can add Yuanbao as a “friend” and start a conversation directly within the app.

WeChat is one of the most widely-used apps in China, offering a range of services that include social media, messaging, short videos, payments, e-commerce and ride-hailing. Before the introduction of the friend function for Yuanbo, WeChat users could access the chatbot through a mini-app.

Alongside Alibaba Group Holding – owner of the Post – and ByteDance, Tencent has invested heavily in developing its own AI models under the Yuanbao brand, while also embracing the open-source models from DeepSeek. That has made Tencent one of the most significant AI service providers in China for both consumers and businesses.