Tencent confirms WeChat AI agent for daily tasks and plans to double AI investment to $5.2B+

Tencent President Martin Lau confirmed at the company's annual earnings press conference that it is building an AI agent within WeChat capable of handling practical daily tasks by drawing on the app's ecosystems of miniprograms, content, social interaction, and payments. Lau said the company also plans to at least double its AI product investment this year from the 18 billion yuan ($2.6B) it spent in 2024, though he did not provide a specific timeline for the WeChat agent's launch. The announcement came alongside strong quarterly results, with Tencent reporting Q4 revenue up 13% to 194.4 billion yuan and net profit up 18% to 66.7 billion yuan year over year.