Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 16, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
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Tencent's Weixin app is testing DeepSeek AI search, aiming to enhance its capabilities with Tencent's Hunyuan-Large model, as it competes in AI advancements.
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Tencent said on Sunday its Weixin messaging app, China's largest, is allowing some users to search via DeepSeek's artificial intelligence model, as firms race to link up with the AI startup that has grabbed global attention.
In a beta test, Weixin is testing access to DeepSeek for searches, Tencent said in an email statement to Reuters.
The move by the Chinese tech giant is notable as integrating DeepSeek brings in an external AI platform, while tech firms compete fiercely in developing the most advanced AI.
Weixin uses Tencent's proprietary Hunyuan-Large language model to enrich its AI search, a spokesperson said.
Tencent is exploring the integration of multiple products with DeepSeek, including Tencent Cloud AI Code Assistant and Tencent Yuanbao, another AI assistant app, said a person with knowledge of the matter.
DeepSeek is being tested by Weixin, which serves domestic users, not its sister app WeChat, which targets overseas users. The two had a combined 1.38 billion users at the end of September.
DeepSeek last month upended the AI world, launching a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. It quickly overtook U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's App Store.
Among Chinese companies seeking to capitalise on DeepSeek's potential breakthrough, automaker Great Wall Motor and leading telecoms providers are integrating the AI model released by DeepSeek into their offerings.
(Reporting by Selena Li and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jamie Freed and William Mallard)
The article discusses Tencent's Weixin app testing DeepSeek AI search capabilities to enhance its services.
DeepSeek is an AI model that offers cost-effective and data-efficient AI services, recently surpassing ChatGPT in downloads.
Tencent is integrating DeepSeek with its Weixin app and exploring further integrations with other products like Tencent Cloud AI.
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