A covert battle for AI gateways is quietly unfolding between China's two super apps.

First, on June 8, WeChat opened its AI platform, with JD.com, Meituan, Ctrip, Didi, and others among the first to integrate. Then, on June 16, according to the , the AI version of Alipay was officially launched, named 'Abao.'

These two platforms, each with over a billion users, have nearly simultaneously revealed their AI Agent strategies. The competition is no longer just for payment gateways but for the primary gateway between users and services in the AI era.

When users can say, 'Book me a ride' via WeChat AI or 'Transfer money for me' via Alipay AI, the traditional app-centric logic is being upended.

Alipay's ongoing AI transformation is akin to a 'heart transplant'—replacing traditional graphical user interface interactions with an AI-powered conversational intelligent service hub.

 01 The 'Bao Project'

Alipay's AI transformation did not happen overnight.

According to LatePost, as early as the second half of 2023, Alipay's management initiated internal discussions on 'how to become intelligent,' subsequently forming a dedicated project team codenamed the 'Bao Project.'

Alipay's AI exploration has undergone significant strategic adjustments. In September 2024, Alipay released its AI lifestyle assistant, 'Zhixiaobao,' touted as China's first standalone service-oriented AI application, featuring minimalist conversational interactions.

In March 2025, the team made a pivotal shift—abandoning the standalone app route and instead focusing on in-app transformations within Alipay. In September 2025, 'AI Pay' was launched, surpassing 100 million users during the 2026 Spring Festival, becoming the world's first AI-native payment product to exceed both one billion transactions and one billion users.

By May 2026, 'AI Pay' had cumulatively completed (accumulatively completed) 300 million AI agent-powered transactions and introduced AI Wallet, Token Pay, and other products for individual users, establishing a full-stack AI-native payment infrastructure covering authorization, payment, settlement, security, and trust.

On June 15, MiniMax's latest large model, M3, integrated with Token Pay, enabling enterprises to manage Token seats with 'bulk purchasing and one-click distribution.' Users can complete checkouts in MiniMax services via Alipay AI Pay with a single voice command. This marked the large-scale deployment of Alipay's first MaaS (Model-as-a-Service) payment solution in China.

Simultaneously, as AI payment infrastructure accelerated, Alipay's AI transformation at the consumer product level progressed in tandem. In December 2025, the 'Bao Project' was officially approved, ultimately opting not for a standalone native app or a simple embedded assistant but for a seamless transition to a new AI-powered Alipay, enabling gradual migration from traditional graphical interfaces to conversational intelligent services.

Based on leaked interface screenshots and beta testing information, the AI-powered Alipay homepage features an ultra-minimalist design: an AI dialog box centrally or bottom-placed supports completing complex operations like bill payments, repayments, and food orders via natural language or voice commands; high-frequency functions like 'Scan,' 'Pay/Receive' are retained, with some versions including 'Travel' and 'Wealth Management' portals for one-click access.

For technical integration, the 'Bao Project' adopted a dual-track approach: on one hand, it encouraged merchants to adapt their services to MCP interfaces directly callable by AI; on the other hand, with user authorization, it ensured compatibility with unmodified mini-programs through screen-reading operations, completing service loops for long-task scenarios. This approach ensured seamless integration for merchants already in the AI ecosystem while accommodating the vast existing mini-program landscape.

On June 16, the AI-powered Alipay officially launched, becoming the world's first super app to achieve full-end AI integration. Users can access it by 'swiping right' in Alipay to experience tens of thousands of services completed in a single, cleaner dialog box. Currently, the new version has initiated invitation-only testing and will gradually roll out to all users.

According to LatePost, 'Abao' will iterate bi-monthly, with its accompanying AI open platform launching simultaneously, advancing seamless collaboration and service orchestration across mobile devices, in-car terminals, smart glasses, and more.

 02 The Duel of Titans

WeChat AI's strategy is to transform itself into a service orchestration center. Mini-program developers can proactively integrate into WeChat's AI ecosystem. For example, when a user tells the AI, 'Book a high-speed train ticket to Shanghai tomorrow,' the system directly invokes the Ctrip mini-program to complete the entire process without leaving WeChat.

On the AI payment front, WeChat Pay took a distinct path from Alipay. In 2025, Tencent Yuanbao integrated with WeChat Pay merchant services, initially targeting small and medium-sized merchants. Take the catering scenario as an example: merchants use Yuanbao to photograph paper menus, and AI automatically generates online ordering pages. Customers scan the code and check out directly through the WeChat Pay interface, eliminating manual amount entry.

During the 2026 Spring Festival, Yuanbao entered the scene with 1 billion yuan in red envelopes. According to reports, Tencent founder Pony Ma explicitly stated at the company's annual gala that he hoped this campaign would replicate the 2015 CCTV Spring Festival Gala WeChat red envelope phenomenon. Users could earn cash by completing AI tasks (e.g., generating red envelope covers, participating in topics), with withdrawals directly to WeChat Pay, deeply linking AI usage with payment incentives.

In April, WeChat Pay released an AI-oriented payment integration Skill set, including skill packages, user-friendly documentation, and APIs. This toolkit enables developers to complete payment integration through a simple 'invoke AI-load Skill-state demand' process.

In early June, media reported that Tencent was accelerating development of an embedded AI agent within WeChat—accessible via a right-swipe from the main interface—enabling 'full-link' execution from demand understanding to service invocation and payment completion, leveraging the mini-program ecosystem. This initiative was designated Tencent's top strategic priority, already integrated with Meituan's AI assistant 'Xiaomei' and attracting initial participation from JD.com, Didi, and other platforms.

Simultaneously, WeChat Pay was collaborating with WorkBuddy to test AI payment capabilities, currently in early testing. Users could simply say, 'Order food for me from KFC,' and WorkBuddy would automatically add items to the cart and initiate payment, with WeChat Wallet introducing an 'AI-Exclusive Card' for dedicated fund management.

Alipay AI, in contrast, focuses deeply on financial services. Leveraging its payment accounts, fund accounts, and wealth management ecosystem, Alipay AI not only handles daily tasks like ride-hailing, food ordering, and bill payments but also, with user authorization, executes fund transfers, mutual fund purchases, investment account management, and provides personalized financial advice.

Technologically, Alipay released China's first 'Payment Integration Skill' in late March, encapsulating foundational payment capabilities into standardized components. On May 26, Alipay announced that its 'AI Pay' now supports 95% of mainstream intelligent agent frameworks, including QianWen, Claude code, and intelligent cockpits from Li Auto, Chery, and others.

Alipay also introduced the global Mobile Agent Messaging Protocol (AMP), for the first time integrating agent identity, authorization, payment, settlement, and trust into the global mobile payment ecosystem, filling a critical gap in global AI agent commercial infrastructure.

In this contest, Alipay's core challenge lies in usage frequency and ecosystem density. WeChat is a platform opened dozens of times daily, where tasks naturally arise; Alipay's core usage remains transaction-focused, with its 'use-and-go' nature creating an uneven starting point for AI assistant engagement.

 03 AI Payments Go Global

While Alipay and WeChat compete for user-side gateways, global payment giants like Stripe, Circle, and Mastercard are vying for a more foundational layer—building dedicated payment infrastructures for AI agents.

Circle's strategy is particularly aggressive. Its core focus is to create a machine economy settlement layer, extending stablecoin payments from human-driven to AI-driven. Circle executives stated on earnings calls that approximately 99% of agent payments are settled using USDC. Circle's financials revealed that the Circle Gateway testnet now processes transactions at a cost as low as $0.00001 each, designed specifically for high-frequency agent micropayment scenarios.

Stripe is also accelerating its layout (strategic layout can be translated as 'strategic deployment' or simply 'layout,' but 'deployment' fits better in technical contexts). In September 2025, Stripe partnered with OpenAI to launch Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. By February 2026, Stripe further deployed the x402 protocol on Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 network Base, enabling AI agents to autonomously pay using USDC stablecoins.

By April 2026, at the Stripe Sessions conference, the Agentic Commerce Suite was unveiled. Merchants could upload product catalogs and manage agent access permissions directly in the Stripe Dashboard, enabling sales through AI agents with just one line of code for integration.

On June 9, OpenAI redesigned ChatGPT into a super app with an AI agent payment protocol, centering on agent-driven e-commerce—where AI agents complete transactions on behalf of users. This protocol, co-developed with Stripe, revolves around shared payment tokens.

International card network giants have also entered the fray. In 2025, Mastercard launched the Agent Pay project, using Agentic Tokens to bind tokenized card credentials to specific agents, merchant scopes, and authorization policies.

By January 2026, Mastercard announced it would bring Agent Pay to Microsoft Copilot Checkout and join Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, collaborating with Stripe, Google, and Antom (under Ant Group International) to drive scalable, secure agent transactions globally.

Meanwhile, in May 2026, AWS announced partnerships with Coinbase and Stripe to develop systems allowing AI agents to automatically pay for API access, data sources, and other content services using stablecoins during task execution. Payment infrastructure is rapidly evolving toward delegated authorization, programmable execution, and multi-track coordination systems.

J.P. Morgan's *2026 Payment Outlook Report* states that payments are no longer merely 'transaction processing tools' but are evolving into 'enterprise strategic infrastructure.' Deloitte's contemporary report explicitly identifies Agentic AI as a key force with 'significant impact' on the payments sector.

 04 Conclusion

Whether it's Alipay's 'Bao Project,' WeChat's AI orchestration center, or Stripe's agent payment infrastructure, a clear trend is emerging: AI is transitioning from 'answering questions' to 'executing tasks,' evolving from a 'supporting tool' into a true 'intelligent agent.'

The ultimate form of this transformation remains uncertain, but the direction is clear. When AI agents can autonomously complete transactions and settle accounts with each other, the traditional internet gateway logic will be fundamentally restructured. China's internet super apps are now positioning themselves at the forefront of this revolution.

References:

[1] 36Kr, 'WeChat and Alipay Target the Same New Battlefield'

[2] LatePost, 'Decoding the AI Version of Alipay: The Largest Redesign in 20 Years is Coming Soon'

[3] Southern Metropolis Daily, 'WorkBuddy Beta Tests WeChat AI Payment: Purchase Q Coins with One Sentence'

[4] China Daily, 'Ant Group Launches Mobile Agent Protocol for Global AI Era Operations'

[5] 01Caijing, 'AI Payments: A Major Battle Awaits'

[6] J.P. Morgan, 'Five Shifts Powering Payments in 2026'

[7] Incrypted, 'Deloitte Names the Key Trends for the Payments Sector in 2026'

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