AI Photo:VCG

 
As artificial intelligence (AI) technology and products reach a new stage,mk China's AI race is shifting from competition over products and technology to a contest over platform ecosystems, with tech giants including Tencent and ByteDance rushing to stake their claims, according to media reports.

Tencent's AI app, Yuanbao, has recently flooded ads across various platforms, including its key traffic driver WeChat. Tencent appears to be leveraging its full ecosystem to push Yuanbao to the forefront of the AI race, according to a report on news website thepaper.cn on Thursday.  

Meanwhile, Bytedance's Douyin is testing AI integration with its own AI large model Doubao and adding two key entry points, according to domestic media outlet Tech Planet. Experts say this marks a shift from Doubao's standalone super-app strategy to deeper ecosystem integration - the new AI arena, according to the report.

In addition, Quark has emerged as Alibaba's flagship AI-to-C product after rebranding as the "AI assistant for 200 million users" in January. In late February, its AI search feature "Deep Thinking" went live, officially entering the race against Doubao and Yuanbao, per the report from thepaper.cn. 

The major tech companies have a clear edge in deep reasoning AI due to their vast ecosystems, Liu Dingding, a technology industry observer, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

"They can seamlessly integrate AI into their services, enhancing user experiences," he said. In contrast, standalone AI firms may face some challenges without ecosystem support. As large models rise, tech giants are competing for the next major digital gateway, according to Liu.

"However, simply embedding AI isn't enough for a competitive edge," Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Wang noted that Yuanbao's integration with DeepSeek is not irreplicable. "Tech firms must build a broader AI-driven ecosystem, using AI for content creation, social interaction and gaming to boost user engagement and loyalty," he said.

Securing a dominant AI gateway requires more than internal AI integration - it depends on building a new ecosystem of products and services around AI applications, experts said. Currently, most AI agents are just personalized, niche adaptations of AI chat, catering to lightweight entertainment needs without strong user retention.

"AI integration is still in a land-grab phase, with companies leveraging their existing strengths to drive traffic to AI apps," Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times. "In the end, only those with strong platform capabilities and the ability to seamlessly integrate AI into their core businesses will succeed."

As of December 2024, Tencent led with 1.256 billion users, driven by its diverse business ecosystem. Alibaba followed with 1.176 billion users, bolstered by its e-commerce and finance strengths. Douyin was third with 1.108 billion users, according to a QuestMobile report released in February.