Tencent’s AI Chatbot Yuanbao Becomes China’s Most Downloaded iOS App

Tencent’s AI chatbot, Yuanbao, has surpassed DeepSeek to become the most downloaded free app on China’s iOS App Store. The chatbot, launched in May 2024, gained significant traction following Tencent’s integration of DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model in February. This move provided users with an additional AI option alongside Tencent’s proprietary Hunyuan model. As a result, Tencent’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose by 1.6% on Tuesday. 

Tencent, which operates China’s largest social media platform, WeChat, further accelerated Yuanbao’s growth by adding a download button for the chatbot within the app. This gave its 1.3 billion users direct access to the AI tool, significantly boosting downloads. By late February, the number of daily active users surged from a few hundred thousand to three million, according to Li Bangzhu, founder of AIcpb.com, a website that tracks AI applications. 

This rise in popularity can largely be attributed to Tencent’s extensive promotional efforts. The company has leveraged WeChat’s vast ecosystem to recommend Yuanbao to users, place ads on its social timeline, and integrate the chatbot across other Tencent applications. In addition to its AI chatbot expansion, Tencent recently reorganized several teams, including those for Yunbao, QQ Browser, Sogou Pinyin, and learning assistant Im, moving them under its Cloud and Smart Industries Group.

  

The company’s aggressive push into AI comes amid intensifying co

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