Alibaba deploys AI workers across rivals ByteDance and Tencent platforms

Alibaba Cloud has begun deploying AI-powered "digital employees" across workplace communication platforms operated by Chinese tech rivals ByteDance and Tencent, marking a departure from the sector's traditional closed-ecosystem strategy.

The company launched the latest version of its QoderWake tool on Tuesday, enabling users to generate fully functioning AI workers through a single-line description of the required role. These digital assistants can now operate within China's three dominant workplace communication platforms: Alibaba's own DingTalk, ByteDance's Feishu, and Tencent's WeCom.

Cross-Platform Integration

According to Alibaba, the QoderWake digital workers can "operate seamlessly" within all three workplace platforms, autonomously absorbing context from shared documents, calendars and group chats. This cross-platform functionality represents a significant shift from the "walled-garden" approach that has historically characterised competition among China's tech giants.

Strategic Pivot Toward Enterprise AI

The move reflects how domestic technology companies are aggressively redirecting their costly AI models toward lucrative business-facing applications capable of executing complex enterprise workflows, Alibaba said. While competing at the infrastructure level, these firms are now demonstrating willingness to incorporate rival products at the application layer.

Ready-Made Roles and Deployment Scale

Beyond customised positions, QoderWake offers 10 ready-to-use roles, including product manager, data analyst, user interface designer, and front- and back-end developer, the company said. These roles have been fine-tuned using data from top-tier industry teams, allowing them to undertake real-world tasks without requiring additional training, it added.

Since its initial release in April, QoderWake had deployed nearly 100,000 digital employees, executing around 2 million tasks across real-world enterprise scenarios over the past three months, according to the company.

Source: South China Morning Post