{
  "id": 17005977,
  "title": "Tencent’s cloud boss plays long game to patch ‘leaky’ AI ship",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/tencents-cloud-boss-plays-long-game-to-patch-leaky-ai-ship",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-29T04:03:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Japan Times",
    "slug": "japan-times",
    "url": "https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/10/29/tech/tencent-cloud-long-game-ai/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Pony Ma, the billionaire founder of Tencent Holdings, recently described the company's artificial intelligence (AI) efforts as \"a leaky ship,\" indicating the struggles the tech giant faced in keeping up with competitors like DeepSeek following the rise of ChatGPT. In response to this challenge, one of Tencent's key executives, Dowson Tong, proposed a new strategy: retooling the company's focus towards business-oriented AI solutions.\n\nTong's vision became the basis for WorkBuddy, an AI assistant designed to enhance productivity within Tencent's existing messaging and office tools. Initially considered a side project, the platform quickly gained traction, serving 32 million monthly users by the fall of the year. This milestone marked a significant breakthrough for Tencent, positioning the company in a lucrative segment of the AI market and helping to restore its credibility in the tech industry.\n\nAs Tencent now seeks to close the gap with competitors such as ByteDance (the parent company of TikTok) and Alibaba Group Holding, WorkBuddy has become a crucial stepping stone. Tong, one of the few executives spearheading this ambitious endeavor, emphasized the importance of enterprise agents over consumer chatbots in driving revenue from this emerging technology. In Shenzhen, Tong discussed the company's strategic shift during an interview, highlighting the potential of WorkBuddy in shaping Tencent's future in the competitive AI landscape.",
  "summary": "The company's future industry standing is at stake against a crop of fast-rising artificial intelligence-native firms from DeepSeek to Moonshot AI.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}