As the global artificial intelligence race enters a new phase, the focus is shifting from chatbots that answer questions to agentic AI systems capable of autonomously completing complex, multi-step tasks. While Western technology companies continue to prioritise foundational models, safety frameworks, and cross-platform interoperability, China’s hyperscalers are pursuing a sharply different strategy.
Chinese tech giants are betting that commerce-integrated agentic AI—deeply embedded into payments, e-commerce, logistics, and social platforms—will become the dominant model for how people interact with autonomous systems. This divergence is already reshaping competitive dynamics and could redefine how enterprises worldwide deploy AI agents over the next decade.
Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance have each made aggressive investments to transform their AI tools from conversational assistants into autonomous commercial operators capable of handling full transaction cycles, from product discovery to payment completion.
From Chatbots to Autonomous Commerce Agents
The concept of agentic AI has quickly moved from theory to execution in China’s consumer tech ecosystem. Agentic systems differ from traditional AI assistants by their ability to independently plan, execute, and complete tasks across multiple services without continuous human input.
In practical terms, this means an AI agent can search for a product, compare options, apply personal preferences, place an order, arrange payment, and track delivery—without the user ever switching apps.
This is no longer a future vision. It is already being rolled out across China’s largest digital platforms.
Alibaba Expands Qwen Into a Transaction Engine
In a major step forward, Alibaba recently upgraded its Qwen AI chatbot to support direct transaction completion within the chat interface. The move transforms Qwen from an informational assistant into a fully functional commerce agent operating across Alibaba’s sprawling ecosystem.
The upgraded system connects Qwen directly to Taobao, Alipay, Amap, and the travel platform Fliggy, enabling users to complete more than 400 core digital tasks without leaving the chatbot.
Consumers can now search for products, receive personalised recommendations, compare options, book services, and complete payments seamlessly inside the AI interface.
According to industry analysts, this level of integration dramatically increases user engagement and retention.
“The agentic transformation of commercial services enables maximum service integration and strengthens long-term user stickiness,” said Shaochen Wang, research analyst at Counterpoint Research, in comments reported by CNBC.
This strategy reflects Alibaba’s belief that the future of AI lies not in isolated tools, but in closed-loop ecosystems where discovery, decision-making, and payment occur in a single flow.
ByteDance Pushes Agentic AI Through Doubao
Alibaba is not alone. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has also accelerated its agentic AI ambitions.
In December, ByteDance upgraded its Doubao AI chatbot to autonomously handle tasks such as ticket bookings and service reservations through integrations with Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
The upgraded model was initially introduced on a prototype smartphone developed in partnership with ZTE, positioning Doubao as a system-level AI assistant capable of interacting across apps and services.
However, ByteDance later scaled back some planned features after competitors raised privacy and security concerns, highlighting the regulatory and trust challenges that accompany autonomous AI systems with broad access to user data.
Despite these adjustments, Doubao remains a clear signal of ByteDance’s intent to embed AI agents deeply into its content-commerce ecosystem.
Tencent and the Power of the Super App
Tencent, meanwhile, is laying the groundwork for agentic AI within WeChat, one of the world’s most comprehensive super apps.
During Tencent’s May 2025 earnings call, President Martin Lau indicated that AI agents could become core components of the WeChat ecosystem, which already integrates messaging, payments, e-commerce, transportation, and a wide range of services for over one billion users.
This positioning underscores one of China’s biggest advantages in the agentic AI race: super apps.
Unlike Western markets, where services are fragmented across multiple platforms, Chinese consumers are accustomed to completing entire digital journeys inside a single app. This behavioural norm provides fertile ground for AI agents that thrive on seamless integration.
Why China Holds a Structural Advantage in Agentic AI
Industry analysts argue that China’s platform structure gives its tech giants a significant edge in deploying agentic AI at scale.
“AI agents will be foundational to the evolution of super apps,” said Charlie Dai, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester. “Success depends on deep integration across payments, logistics, and social engagement.”
According to Dai, companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance benefit from three key advantages:
- Highly integrated ecosystems
- Rich, longitudinal behavioural data
- Consumer familiarity with all-in-one digital platforms
By contrast, Western firms often operate in fragmented environments where data is siloed across services and stricter privacy regulations limit cross-platform integration.
While US and European companies continue to lead in foundational model development and global AI research, their platforms face higher barriers when it comes to deploying closed-loop agentic commerce.
Agentic AI Moves Beyond Consumer Apps
The rapid commercialisation of agentic AI in China’s consumer sector has important implications for enterprises.
Experts expect 2026 to mark a turning point where multi-agent systems—collections of AI agents that collaborate to complete complex workflows—become mainstream across organisations.
These systems are expected to transition AI from a support tool into an autonomous actor within production, operations, and decision-making processes.
In a report cited by Global Times, Tian Feng, President of the Fast Think Institute and former dean at SenseTime’s Intelligence Industry Research Institute, predicted that the first AI agent to exceed 300 million monthly active users could emerge as early as 2026.
Such an agent, he said, would become an “indispensable assistant for work and daily life,” capable of executing composite, cross-application services autonomously.
Consumer Behaviour Is Already Shifting
The rise of agentic AI aligns with changing consumer habits. According to a 2025 McKinsey study, approximately half of all consumers already use AI when searching online.
McKinsey estimates that AI agents could unlock more than $1 trillion in economic value for US businesses alone by 2030, primarily by reducing friction in consumer decision-making and automating routine steps in purchasing journeys.
China’s hyperscalers appear determined to capture that value early by embedding AI agents directly into commerce flows.
Cloud Providers Adapt to Agentic AI Demands
China’s cloud ecosystem is also adjusting to support agentic AI workloads. Major providers such as Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud are expanding infrastructure and tooling to support autonomous agents that require high token usage and continuous execution.
Smaller players, including JD Cloud and UCloud, have also begun offering agentic AI capabilities to enterprise customers.
However, the cost of running autonomous agents at scale has prompted some providers to rethink pricing. ByteDance’s Volcano Engine, for example, has introduced fixed-subscription pricing models to address concerns over unpredictable token consumption.
This shift reflects a broader industry challenge: balancing the economic viability of agentic AI with its resource-intensive nature.
Divergent Strategies: China vs the West
The contrast between Chinese and Western approaches to agentic AI reflects deeper differences in market structure and regulation.
“China will prioritise domestic integration and targeted regional expansion,” said Forrester’s Charlie Dai. “US firms, meanwhile, are focusing on global scalability, governance, and interoperability.”
In the United States, companies exploring agentic commerce include OpenAI, Amazon, and Perplexity. Google, for its part, is experimenting with positioning itself as a “matchmaker” between merchants, consumers, and AI agents rather than owning the entire transaction loop.
These strategies reflect Western platforms’ need to operate across diverse ecosystems where no single company controls payments, logistics, and social engagement end to end.
Regulatory and Security Concerns Emerge
The autonomous nature of agentic AI has also raised regulatory and security questions, particularly in China.
When announcing Doubao’s expanded capabilities, ByteDance issued warnings about potential privacy and security risks. The company advised users to deploy the AI agent on dedicated devices rather than those containing sensitive information.
This caution stems from the agent’s broad access to device data, digital accounts, and internet connectivity across multiple ports—capabilities that heighten both functionality and risk.
As agentic AI becomes more powerful, regulators are expected to scrutinise how these systems handle data, make decisions, and interact with financial infrastructure.
Enterprise Implications Beyond China
For enterprise leaders worldwide, China’s rapid deployment of agentic commerce offers early insights into how autonomous systems may reshape competition.
Agentic AI has the potential to:
- Reduce customer acquisition costs
- Shift platform economics
- Strengthen competitive moats through ecosystem lock-in
As these systems mature, enterprises may need to rethink how customers discover products, make decisions, and complete transactions.
The key lesson is not necessarily to replicate China’s model, but to understand how deeply integrated AI agents can change user behaviour when friction is removed from digital journeys.
Commerce as the New AI Front Line
While much AI coverage continues to focus on new models, benchmarks, and research breakthroughs, China’s hyperscalers are demonstrating that commerce may be the most immediate battleground for agentic AI.
By embedding autonomous agents into everyday consumer actions—shopping, payments, travel, and services—these companies are testing AI at scale in real economic environments.
The outcomes of these experiments will likely influence how agentic AI is adopted globally, from consumer platforms to enterprise workflows.
A Signal of What Comes Next
China’s push into agentic commerce is more than a regional strategy. It is an early signal of how AI may evolve from an assistive technology into an autonomous economic actor.
As enterprises around the world watch these developments, the question is no longer whether agentic AI will arrive, but where it will gain traction first—and under what constraints.
For now, China’s hyperscalers are placing a clear bet: the future of AI is not just about intelligence, but about execution, integration, and ownership of the transaction itself.
Read Also: PepsiCo Turns to AI and Digital Twins to Redesign Factories and Speed Up Manufacturing Decisions