Recently, Tencent launched an AI search feature on its social platform WeChat, which became unusable due to server overload less than a day after its gray testing began. According to Tencent's explanation, this feature utilizes a mixed model for search and integrates the DeepSeek-R1 model to provide deeper thinking services. However, despite the small number of users participating in the gray testing, the usage volume was extraordinarily high, leading to frequent prompts of "Service busy, please try again later."
In this situation, Tencent had to quickly take action, redirecting most search requests to its chatbot "Yuanbao" to meet the strong demand from users. The urgency of this decision reflects Tencent's confidence in the potential application of AI technology in users' daily lives, while also highlighting the current inadequacy of the technological infrastructure.
Image source note: Image generated by AI, image authorized by service provider Midjourney
With this change, users will need to download and use the "Yuanbao" app when they want to access the AI search feature. This strategy indicates that although the current AI search functionality faces technical bottlenecks, Tencent is still striving to provide a better service experience for users. In the future, as technology matures, it is expected that more users will be able to successfully use AI search.
For users, although the current experience is limited, this may also be an opportunity to drive progress in related technologies. Tencent stated that it will continuously optimize the system to better meet user needs, ensuring that AI technology can play its proper role within WeChat.
