After experiencing ZhiXiaobao, Alipay gave birth to the next generation's "baby" in advance

The most Alipay-like son was born.

Not long ago, Alipay launched the AI life butler app "ZhiXiaobao", positioning it as "the first domestic service-oriented AI independent app", with its main selling point being its reliance on Alipay's vast life service ecosystem.

Simply put, Alipay has created an app that differs from those on the market that focus on conversational question-answering, intelligent creation, and AI search in terms of productivity. Instead, it's a "butler"-type app that connects to the Alipay ecosystem to genuinely help users simplify their lives.

According to promotions, its functions include but are not limited to helping users order food, hailing taxis, booking tickets and appointments, searching for nearby dining and entertainment options, and intelligently recommending exclusive services based on users' usage habits and specific time and location.

However, after actually using it, one can only say that while ZhiXiaobao's concept is good, in many daily usage scenarios, its current capabilities are not sufficient to help you achieve your goals more efficiently and may even hinder you.

So, how does ZhiXiaobao perform in our most commonly used Alipay functions? What issues must ZhiXiaobao address to truly become a qualified cyber butler?

01

ZhiXiaobao can't yet be your "life butler"

Since ZhiXiaobao is positioned as a "butler"-type app to help users simplify their lives, we won't test its language model capabilities but will focus on assessing whether it can effectively act as my butler and genuinely help me save time and effort within the Alipay ecosystem.

The first test, naturally, was the most entertaining scene at the event: after the host called on ZhiXiaobao to order coffee, it delivered the ordered coffee to the venue in just 15 minutes.

Honestly, before asking ZhiXiaobao to order coffee for me, I had some trust in it and wanted to experience the convenience of simply asking for coffee and picking it up downstairs. However, ZhiXiaobao's response left me somewhat embarrassed.

After giving the command "Order me a Luckin coffee from downstairs, with a half-sweet iced coconut latte, for pickup," ZhiXiaobao hesitated before responding with "[For non-Beijing, Shanghai, or Hangzhou] We've found the Luckin mini-program for you. You can place your order through the mini-program."

Clicking on the mini-program led to the built-in Luckin ordering mini-program within Alipay, indistinguishable from simply searching within Alipay.

After trying again, I realized this service was only available in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. Undeterred, I wondered if these cities had integrated in-store mini-programs, could I use Alipay's built-in Ele.me to order milk tea delivery in other cities? Integrating Ele.me should be simpler than integrating with all tea shops in every city.

However, the result was equally embarrassing. Upon receiving the order for delivery, ZhiXiaobao simply directed me to the Ele.me mini-program, essentially requiring me to order myself, wasting my time compared to simply opening Ele.me myself.

While ZhiXiaobao couldn't replicate the seamless ordering demonstrated at the event, it wasn't entirely useless. It performed well with some basic Alipay functions.

For example, in managing Alipay's core billing function, ZhiXiaobao provided a direct and visual overview, including daily spending graphs, consumption percentages by category, and the three most expensive transactions and their percentage of total spending.

Other data directly compiled by Alipay was mostly as clear and user-friendly as the billing information. However, whenever data from other apps was involved, ZhiXiaobao simply redirected to those apps.

A typical example is the utility bill query and payment service. While Alipay, as a mature utility bill payment app, has long-standing experience interfacing with water, electricity, and gas providers, ZhiXiaobao simply redirected users to a mini-program for "self-service" inquiries and payments.

Redirecting to mini-programs and offering vague AI responses was not isolated to utility bills. The same pattern emerged in scenarios like taxi hailing, movie ticket purchasing, and finding express delivery pick-up codes.

For such an "inept" app to claim the title of "butler" is absurd. Its responses are either "I don't know" or directing users to interfaces they already know about. Calling it a "young master" and users the "butlers" would be more accurate. Claiming to simplify users' lives without thoroughly testing ZhiXiaobao's capabilities seems disingenuous.

Overall, I find it hard to imagine anyone genuinely using ZhiXiaobao as their butler app in daily life, aside from those specifically testing it. Even ignoring its inadequate services, its functional capabilities are limited, and its sluggish response times (often several seconds to over a dozen seconds) make it quicker for users to complete tasks directly through Alipay.

Furthermore, if ZhiXiaobao significantly enhances the user experience, doesn't that imply significant issues with Alipay's product design team?

02

ZhiXiaobao's aspirations are lofty, but it must start from the ground up

While ZhiXiaobao's current capabilities are limited, as an AI agent designed to enhance daily life, its greatest significance lies in envisioning a future where a single entry point facilitates seamless task completion, truly becoming each individual's butler within the Alipay ecosystem.

For ZhiXiaobao to evolve into what its developers envision, it must overcome numerous technical and competitive challenges.

Technical issues include those mentioned earlier. While ZhiXiaobao performs reasonably well within Alipay's most frequently used internal scenarios and a few external ones like bike-sharing, its limitations become apparent in non-Alipay-affiliated scenarios like taxi hailing and utility bill payments.

In these external scenarios, ZhiXiaobao functions more as a guide than a butler. While older users may need guidance on "how to use" certain services, most users desire "ease of use" and "speed." Unfortunately, current ZhiXiaobao falls short of these expectations, and even the Alipay team faces challenges in addressing them.

ZhiXiaobao's immediate challenges include enabling coffee ordering outside of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, integrating Ele.me for AI-assisted ordering, and streamlining utility bill payments and transfers to rival their ease of use.

Although this is a monumental task, the direction is clear: like Baidu's ambition to "reinvent all apps with AI," ZhiXiaobao must reimagine commonly used Alipay-integrated apps through its AI agent logic.

However, if ZhiXiaobao eventually perfects its integration within the Alipay ecosystem, it will face competition from other AI agents and smartphone manufacturers.

Horizontally, while the Alipay ecosystem covers most of our daily needs, users also rely on services from ByteDance, Tencent, and Meituan. Bridging these internet giants with AI will be crucial.

At worst, each company could introduce its AI agent, slightly complicating user experience but not significantly impacting usability. Vertically, AI agents from Alipay, Tencent, and Meituan directly compete with smartphone manufacturers' AI offerings.

While the ZhiXiaobao team claims a "partnership" with smartphone manufacturers to explore new AI opportunities, their shared goal of addressing lifestyle services within open ecosystems suggests a collaborative rather than competitive relationship.

However, ZhiXiaobao's "do xxx with one command" echoes smartphone manufacturers' AI marketing, raising questions about potential competition.

Nonetheless, these are concerns for the distant future. ZhiXiaobao's priority is to establish itself as Alipay's "butler." Its current state, hardly even a "half-finished" product, serves little purpose beyond occupying memory on users' devices.

From a broader, more forgiving perspective, ZhiXiaobao does offer a glimpse into a future where users can complete any task with a single command, eliminating the need to open multiple apps.

References:

1. "Talking About Complaints About 'Wen Xiaoyan' and 'ZhiXiaobao'" by Agent Universe

2. "I Used Ant Group's New AI App to Buy Coffee, and..." by Meeting with Dragon

3. "To Serve You Like a Workhorse, Alipay Just Gave Birth to an AI 'ZhiXiaobao'" by AI Pioneer.