Tencent unveils digital assistant for WeChat
- Monday, January 14th, 2019
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Chinese tech giant Tencent is set to introduce a Siri-like digital assistant for its hugely popular WeChat app in order to help its users take care of simple tasks.
The AI assistant, called ‘Xiaowei’, will link to most of Tencent’s own services – such as QQ Music – but will also link-up with third-party lite apps, including food delivery service Meituan Dianping and ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, as first reported by Bloomberg.
Tencent has not announced when Xiaowei will be rolled out or if it intends to deliver the service in other areas away from WeChat. 
In addition to unveiling its digital assistant, Tencent has also said it would be focusing on accelerating the monetisation of advertising on Mini Programs, a platform featuring external apps that sits atop its WeChat messaging service. It said it would experiment with more ad formats while adding inventory. Alongside this, Tencent is looking to get more companies to use its services.
