Doubao seizes the entrance, poked the hornet's nest

Just a few days after its launch, the highly anticipated "Doubao Phone" has chosen to "take a step back."

On December 5th, the Doubao team announced that in order to allow technological development to adapt positively to the industry ecosystem, they would make "standardized adjustments" to the AI's ability to operate mobile phones. The most critical point is that the ability to operate financial apps, including banking and internet payment, will be temporarily taken offline.

The reason given by Doubao in the announcement is "for prudence," and they stated that they would actively communicate with manufacturers to establish clear and safe AI operation guidelines.

Previously, on December 1st, the technical preview version of the Doubao Phone Assistant was just released, first landing on the Nubia M153, a mobile phone brand under ZTE. This AI assistant, capable of automatically operating across applications and completing complex tasks, once stirred the market, with the original price of the phone at 3499 yuan being speculated to nearly 7000 yuan by scalpers.

However, before the excitement could fade, the reality of "encirclement" followed closely. Applications such as WeChat, Taobao, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank began to show that the Doubao AI Assistant could not operate normally.

This technical tug-of-war exposes the interests game between AI manufacturers, mobile hardware vendors, and application developers, posing an unprecedented challenge to existing data security regulations and the commercial ecosystem. At the same time, it signifies that the competition for AI Agents as the next generation of internet gateways has already begun.

WeChat, Taobao, and Banks collectively "set defenses"

On December 1st, ByteDance officially launched the preview version of the Doubao AI Assistant. This product achieved a significant breakthrough in AI interaction—capable of autonomously switching and operating between different applications based on user commands.

The Doubao AI Assistant covers functions such as flight inquiry and booking, batch file downloading, cross-platform logistics tracking, and efficiency improvements, while also liberating hands in daily services, such as intelligent photo editing, price comparison on takeaway platforms, and one-click product purchasing.

The innovation of this product lies in the integration of AI capabilities from the bottom layer of the operating system, evolving AI from the traditional "Q&A dialogue" model to an intelligent agent for "cross-application task execution."

However, on the evening of December 2nd, several users who were among the first to receive the Doubao Phone Assistant engineering machine (Nubia M153) reported on social media that using Doubao's AI Assistant to operate WeChat would cause abnormal logouts of WeChat accounts, even being forcibly logged out and unable to log in. This news sparked heated discussions, with some interpreting it as a signal that the "head-to-head battle" between Tencent and ByteDance has escalated into an "AI Agent offensive and defensive battle."

Soon after, more users discovered that Doubao's AI hand could not reach Taobao and various bank apps either. Whether attempting to log in or make payments, they were intercepted by the platform's risk control system. The outside world generally believes this is a countermeasure by the aforementioned apps against Doubao AI Assistant's cross-application operations.

In response, WeChat's statement seemed nonchalant: "There is nothing particularly special going on; it may have triggered existing security risk control measures."

According to technical personnel, the reason the Doubao Phone Assistant can achieve cross-App operations is that it has obtained a system-level high-risk permission called INJECT_EVENTS. In simple terms, this permission allows the AI to simulate all user behaviors such as clicking, sliding, and inputting within the system From the perspective of super apps like WeChat, this behavior pattern is highly similar to those "plug-ins" or "gray and black market" tools that batch create accounts and automatically post advertisements. WeChat explicitly prohibits "logging into or using this software and services through third-party software, plug-ins, add-ons, or systems not developed or authorized by Tencent, or performing automated operations" in its service agreement.

For apps like Taobao and banks that involve financial security, maintaining the highest vigilance against any "simulated user" behavior is an instinctive response of their security systems.

Goldman Sachs: This Just Proves Xiaomi's Moat

Wall Street Insight mentioned that Goldman Sachs pointed out in its latest research report that the experience of Doubao highlights three core obstacles faced by third-party AI agents when challenging the existing mobile ecosystem:

• System-level operational permissions: Mobile manufacturers (OEMs) firmly control the system kernel and highest permissions, making it difficult to easily open up to third parties.
• System-level memory capabilities: Manufacturers can access and store the most comprehensive user data, which is key to training AI, putting third parties at a natural disadvantage.
• Cross-application interface connections: Super apps aim to build their own closed-loop ecosystems, which naturally limits the invocation of external AI agents.

Goldman Sachs believes that this incident not only did not shake the status of existing mobile giants but further validated the long-term competitiveness of companies like Xiaomi.

In China's highly integrated mobile market, the top six manufacturers occupy over 90% of the market share, leaving little room for new players to disrupt the market. Xiaomi is vigorously promoting its "human x vehicle x home" full-ecosystem strategy, which is fundamentally driven by AI.

The report indicates that Xiaomi's proprietary AI agent "Super Xiao Ai" has been deeply integrated into its vast hardware ecosystem, with a penetration rate of 71% among Xiaomi smartphone users. It can operate the vast majority of mainstream apps such as Douyin, Taobao, and Meituan (similarly, excluding WeChat) and can locally remember users' sensitive data and usage habits.

The conclusion is that Xiaomi has built a strong competitive barrier through its systemic advantages of "operating system + hardware + vast AIoT ecosystem + deeply integrated AI agent." The challenges faced by Doubao are the best proof of the inherent advantages of manufacturers like Xiaomi.

The Battle for Super Entry Points in the AI Era

The "hornet's nest" stirred up by Doubao essentially reveals the competition for super entry points in the AI era. When voice interaction becomes the primary entry point, the operational logic of traditional apps will face collapse.

Some analyses point out that the vast majority of users will not specifically designate a platform in voice commands, such as saying "use Taobao to buy a Doubao phone," but will directly say "buy a Doubao phone"; nor will they say "use Amap to navigate to the company" or "use Didi to get to school," but will simply say "get a ride to school." In this case, who can become the system's default entry point becomes crucial. In the era of mobile internet, apps are the controllers of data and traffic. As we enter the AI era, the "system-level AI Agent" that can orchestrate everything and run through the entire system will become the soul of the next generation of devices, becoming the new "center of power." Whoever masters it will hold the greatest app recommendation authority and user mindset.

This is precisely the deep reason why ByteDance chose to cooperate with ZTE, bypassing self-developed phones and directly cutting in from the operating system level. However, the road to this ultimate goal is fraught with thorns:

• Intent Framework Route: Requires authorization from third-party apps. But under the barriers of conflicting interests and data security, the "walled gardens" of WeChat and others will only become higher.
• Pure Visual Solution: No authorization needed, achieved through "screen reading + simulated clicks." But this returns to the point of direct conflict with WeChat and is constantly facing legal and compliance challenges.

The inaugural year of the AI Agent has begun, and the balance between technological innovation and the existing business ecosystem and security regulations is still being explored.

Participants in this game include internet giants like Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance, terminal manufacturers like Huawei, Xiaomi, and OPPO, as well as countless AI startups. No one dares to stand aside.

Elon Musk once predicted that apps will eventually disappear, and everything will be generated by AI. This collision of Doubao has opened the curtain on the ultimate battle concerning the internet landscape of the next decade