This summer, a major event in the AI industry was the sudden rise of the importance of AI in office settings, with a speed and force that caught many off guard.
By the end of July, Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance had all made concentrated adjustments to their AI office business layouts and organizational structures. Tencent merged its QClaw product into WorkBuddy and then fully promoted it. ByteDance merged its Feishu product team into Doubao, establishing a new Doubao product team and launching the independent AI office brand "Doubao Work". In contrast, Alibaba merged its three smart product lines into Qianwen Office. The three major forces have chosen to concentrate their troops in the AI office sector at the same time, with an obvious posture of an impending major battle.
It's peculiar that this battle seemed to come out of nowhere. Just half a year ago, major companies were competing to offer AI-powered services for consumer-end applications, such as sending red envelopes and ordering takeout. Why did the focus of the AI competition shift to the enterprise sector so quickly? The metrics of success changed from billions of yuan in red envelope subsidies and monthly active users to the number of companies that have adopted their AI solutions.
Unlike the mobile app wars, AI-powered office software will be a war of attrition, more prolonged and brutal.
Generally speaking, a sign that a tech giant is serious about doing something is when it unifies its internal related business lines, integrating all its forces to present a unified front.
AI-powered office work has just undergone a period of preparation and consolidation. Originally, office work was an auxiliary capability that many business lines could involve. Public clouds, enterprise collaboration, social platforms, and office software are all natural carriers of AI-powered office work, which has led to AI-powered office work being scattered across various platforms, developing independently, lacking a systematic approach, and without a unified entry point, resulting in a secondary status.
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Internally, Tencent's AI office horse race originally involved at least three independent business lines across departments. Among them, QClaw belongs to Tencent Computer Housekeeper and is based on the transformation of OpenClaw. CodeBuddy belongs to Tencent Cloud, positioned as an intelligent tool in the programming field. WorkBuddy also comes from Tencent Cloud, positioned as a desktop office AI tool. In addition, Tencent Documents, Tencent Meeting, and WeChat Work have also embedded AI functions. After gathering its forces, Tencent has integrated all its AI office capabilities into WorkBuddy, connecting the Tencent ecosystem through functions such as "WeChat Direct Connect", seemingly determined to end the embarrassment of not having a star product in the AI era.
On ByteDance's side, the main task is to fully integrate the four independent platforms of Doubao, Feishu, TRAE, and Kouzi, a large-scale integration that spans four differentiated fields: C-end APP, SaaS, programming tools, and agent platforms.
Byte's integration was completed in two steps. First, the Feishu product team was disbanded and merged into Doubao, forming a new Doubao product team. At the same time, Feishu's original marketing team was merged into Volcano Engine, and Feishu ceased to exist as an independent business unit. In the second step, the TRAE and Duko teams were fully integrated into Doubao, with Agent and AI programming capabilities being strengthened in Doubao's AI office system, and the independent AI office brand "Doubao Work" was launched. As a result, the Doubao team, which had previously achieved excellent results, won absolute trust within Byte and took on the role of the main force in the AI office war.
Alibaba, which has been wavering between DingTalk and Alibaba Cloud, has also introduced a brand-new strategic approach. This time, the plan is to take the opportunity of DingTalk's change in leadership to reorganize a specialized system for AI-powered office work. This system integrates the respective strengths of DingTalk and Alibaba Cloud, such as Tongyili Code, which originally belonged to Alibaba Cloud, Wukong, which originally belonged to DingTalk, and Muzi Express, which was incubated internally at Alibaba Cloud. By fully merging the three, QwenWork was established, with DingTalk's new CEO, Chen Yusan, taking unified responsibility, and reporting to both Alibaba Cloud and DingTalk.
Up to this point, the "Game of Thrones"-like situation between WorkBuddy, DouBao Work, and QianWen Office has taken shape, and a fierce battle is unavoidable. The core logic of this struggle lies in the fact that the value of intelligent systems in offices is no longer just about embedded capabilities, but also about having the opportunity to define the next-generation enterprise operating model.
The recently ignited AI office software war is likely to evolve into a fierce battle similar to when internet companies entered the cloud computing market in the past.
Why has the importance of AI-powered office work suddenly surged, becoming a key battleground for major companies?
This is partly because the maturity of the technology has exceeded expectations. The explosive popularity of Chatbots at the beginning of the year essentially pointed to the application of AI in personal scenarios, while office efficiency is the direct commercial manifestation of this value. In the past few years, AI in offices has long been stuck in basic aspects such as Q&A, document generation, and PPT beautification, which can only be considered as auxiliary capabilities. The intelligent agent's ability to cross applications, understand tasks, and execute long chains of tasks may fundamentally change the office model. As the engineering level of this capability gradually reaches the standard, the resulting business value becomes increasingly significant.
Another factor that has driven AI office software into a fierce battle among giants is the abrupt end of the previous AI war. During the Spring Festival, giants were still fiercely competing to increase their daily active users (DAU), but soon discovered that user retention on the C-end was really poor, and the willingness of retained users to pay for AI was even worse. Moreover, the more users there were, the higher the computing power costs, and these costs were also difficult to dilute. This made the competition for C-end AI somewhat unprofitable, and large factories still yearned for AI businesses that could quickly generate cash and create cash flow. Every time this situation arises, charging enterprises is almost the only option. In today's AI bubble, which is likely to burst, consolidating the ToB market is not only a pragmatic strategy, but also a firewall.
Thus, the three giants began to heavily invest in AI-powered office tools. As this investment is driven by a larger trend, the technological differences between each company are not significant, and the B-end market's usage habits for AI-powered office tools have not been effectively cultivated, making it difficult to say whether the market is thriving. As a result, AI-powered office tools are destined not to become a large-scale campaign like the promotion of large models, but rather a "trench war" of conversion from each company's existing traffic pool, under the premise of technological product homogenization. Everyone is hiding in their own trenches, digging deeper, until the day they can launch a fierce attack.
Tencent seems to have figured it out, with WeChat being its own moat. Rather than developing AI separately from WeChat, it's better to leverage WeChat's traffic and user habits. Therefore, the core advantage of WorkBuddy lies in its seamless integration with Enterprise WeChat, Tencent Docs, Tencent Meeting, and QQ Mail, supporting remote instruction issuance and result feedback via WeChat. This intelligent experience, which is deeply embedded in employees' daily routines, significantly lowers the threshold for AI-powered office work and naturally keeps other competitors out of the AI loop. As a result, during this period of intense competition in AI office software, WorkBuddy has performed the best in terms of traffic, with monthly visits exceeding 20 million. Many of you may have seen WorkBuddy's promotional campaigns recently, with some media colleagues telling me that this is the most extensive promotion they've seen for a Tencent-developed AI product, demonstrating the company's emphasis and determination on this opportunity.
If Tencent's moat comes from mobile social habits, then ByteDance's moat comes from the large model habits that have just been formed in the AI era. The logic behind using Douyin to acquire Feishu, rather than the other way around, lies in the fact that Douyin has essentially become the first national-level product of the AI era. By digging into AI office software around Douyin, it can naturally bring C-end traffic into the B-end ecosystem, allowing those who love using AI to also use AI office software. However, whether the relationship between Douyin's work and Feishu can be clarified, and whether an AI office business line can be cultivated along Douyin's moat, are questions that still need to be further answered.
Tencent has social media, ByteDance has AI, and Alibaba has cloud computing. The trench that Qianwen Office has breached is the in-depth connection between Alibaba Cloud and DingTalk on the B-end side. It's worth noting that the B-end and C-end have distinct boundaries in many aspects, and most attempts to break through these boundaries have proven to be one-sided. Relatively speaking, Alibaba has a more established B-end paid market, the question is how to convert this market momentum into a brand-new AI office story.
Next, the three trenches will be strangled together. The fight is not about the massive red envelopes being lavished, but about handling one public opinion crisis after another, competing for industry strongholds, and exploding B-end discourse power one by one. The competitive tug-of-war will be longer and the battle will be more intense.
The first battle in the AI office software wars is known as the competition for desktop portals.
This is the simplest and most effective entry point for AI office, namely whether enterprise users can enter a certain AI office system as soon as they start up, and complete their series of office needs within its framework. Generally, the desktop-level intelligent body plays the role of this entrance. It is the default entrance for many AI office capabilities and is a key function promoted by the three major AI office companies.
The ideal scenario is for the company's desktop smart assistant to occupy the startup item and desktop resident position for enterprise users, be callable via shortcut keys at any time, and be usable across different office terminals.
WorkBuddy can be remotely awakened via WeChat, the Doubao PC client has added a "Work" entry, and the DingTalk navigation bar can directly awaken Qianwen Office, all of which can be seen as various companies competing for desktop entry points. The lower the awakening cost, the lower the usage threshold, which often means the higher the penetration rate of the first wave of AI office applications. This is also the key to why Tencent can take the lead at the start of the game.
Looking further ahead, the desktop portal is just the first step. The commercial core of AI-powered office work lies in how to recoup cash flow after the portal is opened. This requires major companies to provide customized AI capabilities for each industry. Breaking into one industry after another, this B-end approach, which has been repeatedly rejected by giants, may need to return to the mainstream vision. Furthermore, giants need to establish a brand-new AI office ecosystem, introducing ISVs and developers to provide user services. AI-powered office work may likely redivide the SaaS market share.
In the AI era, internet giants will become increasingly similar to IT service providers.
This is a curse that major companies want to escape, but the tide of technology and business has repeatedly pushed them in this direction. The competition for desktop entrances will not see heavy investment in the short term like the C-end competition of large models, but will instead rely on long-term competition, word-of-mouth accumulation, and a "block-by-block" battle for one enterprise and one industry at a time. This B-end competition will be even more brutal and consuming, with a large number of product capabilities, service capabilities, and marketing capabilities being continuously invested in the front line.
The desktop portal for AI-powered offices will become a battleground meat grinder for companies that truly want to gain market dominance.
Since the information revolution, the digitalization of corporate offices has undergone three transformations. The first was centered on office informatization, with the emergence of giants like Microsoft. The second was driven by the digitalization of enterprise processes, with the rise of standardized software systems such as ERP and CRM, and the emergence of foreign companies like SAP and Oracle, as well as domestic companies like Yonyou and Kingdee. The third transformation is driven by cloud-based collaboration and enterprise collaboration, with the emergence of platforms like DingTalk and Feishu.
Each of these transformations has been accompanied by enormous business opportunities and fierce competition for users. With the advent of the AI era, enterprise offices may transition to a new form dominated by intelligent entities, where AI can autonomously break down office tasks, call upon tools, and deliver results. The role of employees will shift to overseeing intelligent entities and supervising the AI process and its outcomes. Companies providing office intelligent entities will not only offer single tools or platforms, but also have the potential to deeply participate in a company's workflow, becoming an indispensable and irreplaceable part of the enterprise.
The realization of this opportunity is more difficult than the previous three office revolutions, but the imagination is also more abundant. In reality, the vast majority of enterprises have not yet tapped into the true necessity of AI-powered offices and need to cultivate usage habits. There are too many AI office entry points on the market, and the AI capabilities provided by the systems behind these entry points vary greatly.
A new AI-powered office format that integrates AI programming, intelligent office assistants, and comprehensive office tools with industry workflows will emerge after the prolonged AI office wars. The final AI office entry point is likely to converge to just 1-2 options. Players who control the entry point will reap the majority of the profits, while others will fade out.
The three major internet companies' preparations for battle are just the prelude to the gunfire. More manufacturers will join in, including old friends from the ERP and office software era, cross-industry players transitioning from hardware to software, and new elites from the AI native era. In the end, the new crown of the To B market will be crowned at the end of the trenches.