ByteDance and Tencent Accelerate Personal AI Agent Development Following Meta's Muse
Original title:消息称字节、腾讯加速个人 AI 智能体研发，追赶 Meta Muse
IT Home reported on October 11 that according to Caixin, Meta's release of its personal AI agent Muse has prompted domestic tech giants to quickly follow suit. On October 9, ByteDance insiders revealed that ByteDance had stepped up efforts to push forward the research and development of its personal agent product ahead of the National Day holiday. The initiative originated from a new project launched by ByteDance in April this year, codenamed "Spell," which serves as a continuation of Doubao Phone Assistant's 2025 personal agent direction. At that time, internal testing had already begun within Doubao for personal agent-oriented products.
Following the surge in popularity of personal agents like Muse overseas, ByteDance accelerated the project's progress. Led by the Doubao Phone Assistant team and jointly managed by the Spell project and the Doubao conversational team, the initiative plans to integrate the "Spell" project with Doubao products, aiming for a public release as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Tencent launched a personal agent product called LightVela in late September, dubbing it a "cloud-based personal assistant." Accessible via WeChat, it remains online 24/7 to help users handle various daily requests. However, the product is currently still in the developer preview stage.
On September 8 local time, Meta rolled out its personal AI agent product, Muse, which can act on behalf of users to execute tasks such as sending emails and booking travel.
Muse can access—subject to explicit user authorization—user data across various applications, including email, calendar, payments, health, shopping, and smart home devices. Users can choose which applications Muse connects to and retain the right to revoke access permissions at any time.
IT Home noted that, unlike traditional Q&A chatbots, Muse's core positioning is an "action-oriented agent" that takes real-world actions on behalf of users. Emphasizing cross-platform management of tedious tasks, it is regarded by Mark Zuckerberg as a critical product on the path toward "personal superintelligence."
Why it's worth reading
Reveals concrete progress on ByteDance's "Spell" and Tencent's "LightVela" projects, showing how top Chinese tech firms are pivoting toward action-oriented personal agents.