China’s tech giants are deepening their push into AI for businesses as they look for profitable revenue streams. TikTok owner ByteDance, which boasts the highest annual AI revenue projection among its peers, announced a restructure this week to bring its workplace tool closer to its flagship AI chatbot Doubao, which is “by far China’s most widely used standalone AI application,” a Beijing-based commentator wrote.
Other Chinese tech players like Alibaba and Tencent are similarly looking to pivot toward the more lucrative enterprise market. For years, China’s AI race was dominated by a quest for market share at all costs, to the point that companies gave away tech, shopping vouchers, and even cash to attract users. And their open-weight models have taken off around the world. But they’re still struggling to make a profit. ByteDance now has a tiered pricing system, similar to its Silicon Valley rivals.
The lack of financial results has caused Chinese tech stocks to tank in recent weeks, despite technological advances like the release of Moonshot’s Kimi K3 model, The Wire China wrote. “A sector can lead the world in capability and still be a poor place in which to seek market gains.”