China’s ByteDance has introduced Doubao 2.0, a major upgrade to what is currently the country’s most widely used AI chatbot application. The launch comes at a strategic moment — just as the Lunar New Year holiday begins — a period when hundreds of millions of people travel home and spend extended time online during family gatherings.
The timing is not accidental. Chinese tech companies often use the Spring Festival window to generate attention, both domestically and overseas. Last year, during the same holiday period, DeepSeek stunned global markets by unveiling an advanced AI model that drew comparisons to leading US systems, while reportedly being built at significantly lower cost. The development caught several major Chinese firms off guard.
ByteDance Moves Early to Stay Ahead in China’s AI Race
This year, ByteDance appears determined not to repeat that experience.
By unveiling Doubao 2.0 ahead of an anticipated new DeepSeek release, the company is moving early to secure momentum. Just days before announcing the upgraded chatbot, ByteDance also released a video-generation model called Seedance 2.0, which quickly went viral across Chinese social platforms and received international praise, including attention from tech figures abroad.
ByteDance describes Doubao 2.0 as a model built for what it calls the “agent era” — a phase where AI systems are expected to handle multi-step, real-world tasks rather than simply respond to prompts. According to the company, the pro version of the model supports advanced reasoning and more complex task execution.
The firm claims that Doubao 2.0’s capabilities rival leading global AI systems, while significantly reducing usage costs. Lower inference expenses, ByteDance argues, will matter more as AI applications expand into large-scale, real-world deployment that requires processing vast volumes of data tokens.
Doubao currently leads China’s AI chatbot market with approximately 155 million weekly active users. DeepSeek follows with around 81.6 million users, based on industry tracking data released in late December.
However, competition is intensifying. Earlier this month, Alibaba launched a major promotional campaign for its Qwen AI app, reportedly allocating 3 billion yuan (about $400 million) in incentives. The campaign allowed users to redeem coupons directly inside the chatbot for food and beverage purchases — a move designed to drive everyday engagement.
The strategy delivered immediate results. Daily active users on Qwen surged from roughly 7 million to 58 million in a short span, narrowing the gap with Doubao.
With Doubao 2.0 now live, ByteDance is clearly aiming to defend its leadership position while expanding beyond simple chatbot functions into more complex AI-driven services.
As China’s AI race heats up, the battle is no longer just about who builds the smartest model — but who scales it fastest and most affordably.
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