Tencent joins the DeepSeek bandwagon

Reuters

Tencent (0700) said yesterday its Weixin messaging app, China's largest, is allowing some users to search via DeepSeek's artificial intelligence model, as firms race to link up with the AI startup that has grabbed global attention.

In a beta test, Weixin is testing access to DeepSeek for searches, Tencent said in an email statement to Reuters.

The move by the Chinese tech giant is notable as integrating DeepSeek brings in an external AI platform, while tech firms compete fiercely in developing the most advanced AI.

Weixin uses Tencent's proprietary Hunyuan-Large language model to enrich its AI search, a spokesperson said.

Tencent is exploring the integration of multiple products with DeepSeek, including Tencent Cloud AI Code Assistant and Tencent Yuanbao, another AI assistant app, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

DeepSeek is being tested by Weixin, which serves domestic users, not its sister app WeChat, which targets overseas users. The two had a combined 1.38 billion users at the end of September.

Investment bank Jefferies said that compared to other tech firms accessing DeepSeek, Tencent stands out with its vast user base, high usage frequency, and diverse application scenarios based on its mini-programs, while the integration of DeepSeek is also expected to reshape the mainland chatbot market.

In other news, Apple is planning to add Apple Intelligence to its Vision Pro headset, along with an updated mode for guest users and a spatial content app, as it seeks to boost interest in the device.

The company aims to roll out the features as part of a visionOS 2.4 software upgrade targeted for as early as April, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The enhancements will become available in beta for developers as soon as this week, said the people,.

Apple Intelligence on the Vision Pro will include standard features like the Writing Tools interface, Genmojis and the Image Playground app.

It's the first time Apple is expanding its artificial intelligence tools from the iPhone, iPad and Mac. Because the headset includes a Mac M2 chip and 16 gigabytes of memory, it's able to support the on-device AI processing.