‘Ni hao, Ah Bao’: China’s Alipay gets AI-agent overhaul to challenge big tech rivals

Ant Group has overhauled Alipay into an AI-native platform featuring an autonomous agent named Ah Bao, allowing users to access over 10,000 services via conversational interface. The move intensifies competition among China's big tech firms to embed generative AI into consumer ecosystems, with Alipay leveraging its billion-user base to challenge rivals.

‘Ni hao, Ah Bao’: China’s Alipay gets AI-agent overhaul to challenge big tech rivals Fintech giant is seen leveraging its billion-user base to launch a conversational interface that coordinates 10,000 services, with safeguards Ann Cao /author/ann-cao in Shanghai Ant Group has unveiled the biggest overhaul of Alipay in two decades, transforming its ubiquitous mobile-payment app into a native AI platform with autonomous agents, as it strives to dominate China’s next-generation internet gateway. A trial version of the flagship app now features an interactive assistant named “Ah Bao”, marking a strategic pivot from a traditional digital wallet into an AI-driven ecosystem. Accessible via a right swipe on the homepage, the new interface allows users to access more than 10,000 everyday services – from ride-hailing to food delivery – through conversations with the Ah Bao bot. The feature is currently available on an invite-only basis, with plans for a gradual roll-out to all users, according to Alipay. To address potential security concerns inherent to autonomous artificial intelligence, Alipay said Ah Bao acts strictly as a process operator. All final payments and other financial actions were said to require explicit confirmation from users to prevent unauthorised transactions. agentic AI https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3353747/chinas-tech-companies-are-looking-rewrite-e-commerce-playbook-ai-agents?module=inline&pgtype=article market. The launch intensifies a high-stakes race among China’s big tech firms to embed generative AI into the country’s vast consumer ecosystem.