ByteDance's Doubao has internally tested a personal agent code-named Spell since April, according to a person familiar with the matter, and Tencent is reportedly building a standalone agent app called Handy Bot. Such agents, AI software that carries out tasks like bookings and purchases for a user, need access to shopping, travel and payment services whose operators may not grant it, Wallstreetcn said. Amazon recently restricted access to its services by Muse, the personal agent Meta launched in early September. Since June, Tencent's WeChat has been gradually rolling out a native assistant that can send messages, place calls and order coffee on command.

A China Coast Guard formation led by the cutter Zhujiajian carried out what spokesperson Jiang Lue called a routine law enforcement patrol east of Taiwan. Footage from the patrol shows Taiwan's Central Mountain Range, which state-run Global Times says indicates the formation came close to the island. Chen Xiangmiao, a researcher at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the paper the patrol was a warning over Taipei's recent ties with Manila. Taiwan plans to give the Philippines a retired 500-ton patrol vessel, reported to be the Lienchiang. The coast guard said the Zhujiajian formation has strengthened control of the waters since September and will keep up patrols.