中国的代理式 AI 超级应用正在迅速普及，已有超过 6 亿人被认为使用过某种此类应用。上海送咖啡的例子显示，这一趋势正把 AI 从工具变成代办者，并可能重塑中国数字经济。 中国互联网已经历两个时代：先是以百度为中心的搜索时代，后来在智能手机普及后转向以微信、淘宝、抖音等为代表的超级应用时代。如今，阿里巴巴、字节跳动、腾讯等巨头正凭借庞大的数字服务与物流网络，争夺第三个时代的主导权。 竞争已经非常激烈：阿里在 5 月 11 日把 Qwen 与淘宝完全整合，字节正推进 Doubao 与抖音联动，腾讯则把新模型 Hy3 逐步接入微信。与此同时，腾讯创始人马化腾在 5 月 13 日警告，AI 服务领域可能出现混乱的“圈地”大战。
对科技巨头而言，AI 超级应用在中国消费疲弱之际可能成为新增长来源，但盈利模式仍不清晰。阿里中国电商部门 2026 年第一季度调整后经营利润同比下降 40%，而云业务虽因 AI 基础设施需求而增长，却也带来巨额资本开支压力。 目前这些公司声称不会根据广告支出推荐商品，但要实现盈利，未来很可能不得不引入更强的商业化机制。多数中国聊天机器人仍免费使用，尽管字节在 2 月推出了面向部分功能的付费层级。
更深层的防御性动机也在推动这场竞争：如果操作系统内置 AI 代理的设备兴起，现有超级应用可能被替代。字节曾在 12 月与中兴推出预装 AI 助手的手机，首批约 3 万台虽引发热度，却最终失败，部分原因是阿里和腾讯封锁了其支付平台接入。
China’s agentic AI super-apps are spreading fast, with more than 600 million people already thought to have used some form of them. The coffee-delivery example shows how AI is moving from tool to proxy, and may reshape China’s digital economy. China’s internet has passed through two eras: first a Baidu-centered search era, then a smartphone-driven super-app era built around services like WeChat, Taobao, and Douyin. Now Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent are using their vast digital services and logistics networks to fight for leadership of a third era. The race is already intense: Alibaba fully integrated Qwen with Taobao on May 11, ByteDance is linking Doubao with Douyin, and Tencent is gradually connecting its new Hy3 model to WeChat. Tencent founder Pony Ma warned on May 13 that a messy “land grab” for AI services may be coming.
For tech giants, AI super-apps could be a new growth engine as consumer spending in China remains weak, but the monetization model is still unclear. Alibaba’s Chinese e-commerce division saw adjusted operating profit fall 40% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, while cloud growth tied to AI infrastructure is being offset by heavy capital spending. The firms say their AI super-apps do not recommend products based on ad spending, but profitability may eventually require more commercialization. Most chatbots in China are still free, even though ByteDance introduced a paid tier in February for users seeking certain features.
A deeper defensive motive is also at work: if devices with operating systems embedded with agentic AI become popular, existing super-apps could be displaced. ByteDance’s December phone with ZTE, which came preloaded with an AI assistant, produced around 30,000 devices before failing, partly because Alibaba and Tencent blocked access to their payment platforms.
Source: AI super-apps are remaking China’s internet
Subtitle: Welcome to the agentic era
Dateline: 5月 21, 2026 05:00 上午 | Shanghai