ByteDance's AI assistant Doubao is getting a serious upgrade: deep integration with Douyin (Chinese TikTok) lifestyle services. Now, users can browse and buy restaurant deals directly inside Doubao, including payment and redemption at the physical store.
Here's how it works: you ask Doubao about group-buying deals, and it recommends specific shops and packages. Tap through to the merchant page, select a package, pay, and the order is done. Completed orders show up in Doubao's "My Orders" list, sorted by time, with a barcode for in-store scanning. Doubao also syncs order info with Douyin and the savings platform Dousheng Sheng, clearly labeling the source.
Alibaba's rival AI assistant Qianwen already has a similar local services loop, but the interaction is notably different. Qianwen, backed by Alibaba's local services and payment ecosystem, can fully automate the ordering process: you give it your budget, preferences, and location, and it picks the merchant, selects a package, and confirms the order — you just okay the payment. Doubao, on the other hand, still relies on AI recommendations. After that, you have to manually choose the package, confirm specs, and submit the order. No full automation yet.