Ant Group Tests Alipay AI Agent Interface, Taking Aim at WeChat
Claire Weston
Ant Group is internally testing a major Alipay overhaul built around an AI agent called "A-Bao" that lets users hail rides, order food, and even buy mutual funds by voice or text command. This means → the Alipay-vs-WeChat battle is shifting from feature parity to who can make AI act on the user's behalf first.
What can "A-Bao" actually do?
Users give text or voice commands to A-Bao to hail rides, order coffee, get food delivered, and — once authorised — purchase mutual funds and other financial products.
In plain terms = instead of tapping through menus yourself, you tell the AI what you want and it handles the rest.
The redesign is still in internal testing; no launch date has been set. Ant declined to comment.
Why is this aimed squarely at WeChat?
Alipay and WeChat each have more than one billion users. Both super-apps are deeply embedded in daily life across China.
Tencent is testing its own AI agent prototype inside WeChat — the rivalry is moving from "matching each other's features" to "whose AI executes better."
This means → whichever platform makes AI agency reliable at scale first gains a structural edge in China's next internet cycle.
Why is Ant going all-in on AI now?
This is not an isolated bet. After Ant's IPO was blocked and its lending business was curtailed, the company systematically pivoted toward AI.
Recent moves include a humanoid robot for medical consultations unveiled last year, and a health app called AQ that had served 140 million users by September 2025.
This reflects a deeper repositioning: Ant is redefining itself from a fintech firm into an AI-driven life-services platform.
Where did the profit go?
Ant's Q4 2025 profit fell 79% year-on-year, driven by heavy spending on AI healthcare and large-language-model R&D.
A 2023 share buyback valued the company at roughly $79 billion — far below its $280 billion peak valuation during its 2020 IPO attempt.
In plain terms = Ant is trading short-term profit for long-term AI capability. A nearly two-thirds valuation haircut is the visible price tag.
Who else is in this AI arms race?
ByteDance is a major contender. During the 2026 Lunar New Year, Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance spent billions of yuan in cash subsidies promoting their flagship AI chatbots.
Rolling out AI agents will push compute consumption — and operating costs — even higher.
This means → the ultimate winners will be decided by two tests: whether Alipay's redesign can actually change user habits, and whether the AI agent's execution accuracy clears the bar for commercial viability.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.