Tencent is testing an AI assistant within its widely used WeChat messaging app in China, the company said. The feature, called Xiaowei, is currently in a restricted trial with a subset of users, according to Tencent.
During the trial phase, Xiaowei can accept both text and voice inputs. The assistant is able to assist users with common activities such as sending messages and placing calls. It is also designed to help navigate WeChat's extensive collection of mini-programs and services, which are embedded apps within the platform.
The deployment represents Tencent's latest effort to introduce AI-driven capabilities into WeChat, which serves roughly 1.4 billion users and functions as an all-in-one app for messaging, payments, shopping, transportation and other daily services. By integrating an assistant that can operate across WeChat's internal ecosystem, Tencent is positioning Xiaowei to support tasks inside the platform rather than only answering user queries.
This step follows reports earlier this month that Tencent had been developing an AI agent capable of interacting with the mini-program network and automating tasks for users. The current announcement confirms the company has moved to limited user testing of the feature it has dubbed Xiaowei.
The initiative places Tencent squarely within the competitive and fast-evolving AI agent market, where Chinese technology companies are racing to build software that completes tasks on behalf of users instead of providing only informational responses. Tencent's integration of Xiaowei into WeChat leverages the platform's broad reach and its aggregation of payments, commerce and services in a single environment.
For now, Xiaowei remains in a preliminary stage of rollout. Tencent's disclosure notes the trial is limited to selected users, and the company has not announced a wider release schedule or additional implementation details in this statement.
Contextual note: The information above is limited to what Tencent has stated about the Xiaowei trial and prior reports that the firm was developing an agent for mini-program interaction. No further timeline or product details were provided in the announcement.