Source: Sixth Tone RSS
Over 150 apps—including Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance properties—refused integration with Xiaomi's new AI assistant. The refusal shows how dominant app makers can wall off third-party AI tools from their ecosystems. Xiaomi's predicament exposes a constraint on AI device makers: no matter how sophisticated the hardware, usefulness to consumers depends on app developers' cooperation. In China's AI race, leverage belongs to companies that own user data and engagement, not device makers. Those companies can simply decline to participate.