US, China split on AI agents: dots, Muse vs WeChat's Xiaowei

The two camps are chasing the same prize — getting AI agents into everyday use — but from opposite directions. OpenAI and Meta put the assistant at the center and send it out to other companies' websites and services, which requires users to hand over access to private systems. Chinese players such as Tencent's Xiaowei instead sit inside a closed super-app like WeChat, where consumers already handle much of daily life, so the agent can order from businesses that are already on the app.

That closed approach comes with its own costs. The Hello China Tech newsletter noted that Xiaowei's strategy may not translate into revenue, since Tencent earns no new fees from purchases and early tests show it making mistakes. And because Xiaowei can only assist with what's available inside WeChat, while other Chinese platforms have blocked outside agents, the super-app model may limit how useful Chinese agents can become.

The Western approach is no cleaner. Meta's Muse has already been blocked by Amazon, and both dots and Muse require users to turn over access to private systems — so the seamlessness promised by either camp looks unlikely in the near term. What the popularity of these agents does suggest is that markets are watching closely to see which model produces something people actually rely on.