New Delhi: Chinese tech giant ByteDance has recently announced that they are going to launch an Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice control tool that will debut on devices made by ZTE Corp, before becoming available on phones from other manufacturers in due course. The AI assistant, powered by ByteDance’s popular Doubao large language model, enables users to voice-activate tasks such as finding content and booking tickets. The tool will compete with similar AI features unveiled by Chinese smartphone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi.
Apple has yet to make its Apple Intelligence available in China, though Alibaba has stated that it would partner with Apple to develop AI features for iPhones in the country. ByteDance’s AI voice tools will first appear on ZTE’s Nubia M153 device, and it is currently prototype priced at 3,499 yuan ($495) (roughly Rs 44,551). The device is available for pre-order in limited quantities. ByteDance stated in a statement that it has no plans to develop its own smartphones and is in talks with multiple phone makers to roll out the AI voice assistant.
ByteDance also owns TikTok and the short video application Chinese version Douyin, which has emerged as the leading player in consumer AI applications in China due to its chatbot Doubao. Doubao had 159 million monthly active users in October, far more than Tencent’s Yuanbao at 73 million and DeepSeek at 72 million, according to the AI product tracking platform Aicpb website.
