On September 2, Tencent Holdings Ltd announced via its official WeChat account that its AI office platform, WorkBuddy, has officially launched an open ecosystem. The platform has brought in over a hundred initial ecosystem partners and is opening up its underlying Agent capabilities to smart hardware, industry applications, and developers. This marks the first open platform in China's AI Agent sector to simultaneously connect the three layers of hardware, applications, and developers.
Since the start of this year, major industry players including ByteDance, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Beijing Kingsoft Office Software Inc, and Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co have all ramped up their AI-driven office offerings, pushing the sector's profile higher thanks to its high-frequency use cases and strong practicality. For instance, Kingsoft Office rolled out two AI office agents in July, while Alibaba and ByteDance introduced their AI office products "Qianwen Office" and "Doubao Work" respectively in August, clearly accelerating the pace of market entry.
The sustained rise in adoption and market heat is chiefly driven by an explosive release of demand. According to data from iiMedia Research, AI tools have become deeply embedded in the daily workflows of Chinese white-collar workers. Office AI assistants, text-processing AI, and general-purpose conversational AI rank as the three most-used AI tool categories, with office AI assistants leading the pack at a usage rate of 57.27%. Meanwhile, Analytics Cloud data shows that the combined monthly visits to several mainstream AI office agents in China jumped from 20 million in March to 60 million in June. Data from the AICPB for July 2026 indicates that the total monthly active users of domestic AI office desktop applications stand at roughly 30 million, which suggests there is still around 20 times more growth headroom when compared to the user base of conventional office software.
Yuan Shuai, deputy secretary-general of the Zhongguancun IoT Industry Alliance, noted that AI office solutions, serving as a key gateway for the commercial deployment of large language models, are fundamentally transforming traditional work patterns. He explained that these tools are evolving from simple conversational assistants into "digital employees" that can independently manage tasks and execute business operations, integrating deeply into frontline corporate scenarios.
On the policy front, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued guidelines in May aimed at promoting the standardized application and innovative growth of intelligent agents. These guidelines encourage the use of agents to enhance internet services such as online shopping, navigation, utility payments, and daily office work, while also supporting the coordinated development of agents with devices like smartphones, computers, cars, home appliances, wearables, and consumer robots to improve cross-application and cross-device capabilities.
As market demand continues to climb, listed companies across the domestic supply chain are seizing the opportunity to accelerate their investments. Guangdong TYMA Information Industry Co recently stated on an investor interaction platform that its self-developed "YIQI AI Government Affairs Assistant," built on the TYM AI Engine agent platform, has already been deployed in a city to provide services like process guidance and policy consulting, significantly streamlining government workflows. On the enterprise side, the company has also developed internal management assistants for large state-owned enterprises, listed firms, and other corporate clients, supporting functions such as R&D assistance and internal training, thereby boosting overall office and management efficiency.
Richinfo Technology Co said during a recent institutional survey that its AI-related application revenue saw substantial growth in the first half of the year, with AI office tools, agent platforms, and AI marketing/e-commerce being the top contributors. The company has embedded AI across its office suite, including AI email, MOA, and AI-driven approval flows. It has also provided AI support for the loan approval process of a major state-owned commercial bank, a representative example of collaboration between field deployment engineers and clients.
Zhu Keli, founding dean of the Guoyan New Economy Research Institute, pointed out that enterprise-level AI is moving rapidly from standalone model-assisted tools to deep integration across the entire business workflow and system-wide coordinated operations, which is expanding the market further. He observed that AI office agents are already delivering measurable cost savings and efficiency gains in sectors such as manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and fast-moving consumer goods.