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Chinese tech companies continued their Willy Wonka-style push to attract chatbot users this week during Lunar New Year celebrations by giving away tech, shopping vouchers, and even cash. The companies already offer free chatbots but are trying to boost their bottom lines by increasing engagement in a way that’s culturally resonant. It’s a much different strategy than the tiered subscription-based models American tech companies often offer. (A similar giveaway war has played out across industries in China, from food delivery to fast fashion, which has contributed to recent deflationary pressures.)
Still, everything free comes at a cost. Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent will altogether spend 4.5 billion yuan ($649 million) on cash incentives during the holidays, Bloomberg reported. And ByteDance offered its chatbot users tech winnings including humanoid robots, electric vehicles, and drones.
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Right now, the competition is largely happening among Chinese companies within their borders, while the US ones fight each other through capability advancements and advertising jabs. The Lunar New Year giveaways have primarily happened inside China, but those firms are also looking for global reach. If the Chinese tech firms extend similar incentives to individuals in the US or in other markets where American frontier models are competing for market share, they could pose a new and serious threat to the US’ global tech dominance. Chinese models are formidable competitors to American ones, and people like free things, which US companies aren’t accustomed to handing out.