In a bid to capture users, AI-to-C applications are rapidly embedding themselves into an increasing number of everyday life scenarios. Recently, on short-video platforms, many users have been experimenting with video calls to Doubao, asking it for fashion advice, which has spawned numerous memes about "rolling up pant cuffs." Building on its video call feature, Doubao officially "started its job" at the Pudong Art Museum on January 20th, becoming the official AI docent for two major international exhibitions at the venue. This marks the first time an AI product has been appointed as an official museum guide tool. During the exhibition, visitors can use the "video call" function within the Doubao App or ask questions by taking photos to receive professional explanations about specific artworks. It is evident that Doubao has emerged as one of the most proactive native AI applications aggressively entering people's daily life scenarios, and it is achieving notable success. CICC, citing market data, reported that the domestic Doubao App's daily active users (DAU) have surpassed the 100 million mark, leading its competitors. Naturally, in the race to capture the next-generation super portal, Doubao is not the only player exerting effort. Since last year, various companies have been accelerating their deployment of AI-to-C products, significantly intensifying competition within the industry. Currently, major internet companies are demonstrating differentiated strategies in their competition within the AI-to-C segment. ByteDance leverages its content and traffic advantages; users can directly share their interactions with Doubao to platforms like Douyin, further driving its user growth. Furthermore, when users pose consumption-related questions, Doubao can recommend specific products and guide them to complete a purchase. This positioning as a "video entertainment intelligent agent portal" aligns well with ByteDance's content ecosystem strengths. The Alibaba ecosystem has formed a differentiated product matrix through a strategy of "general coverage + vertical specialization." Recently, the latest version of the Qianwen APP has been fully integrated with Alibaba's ecosystem businesses such as Taobao, Alipay, and Fliggy, enabling AI-powered functions like ordering takeout and booking flights, with the aim of creating the best personal AI assistant. For vertical sectors, A Fu, positioned as an AI health assistant, is a representative example. Tencent, capitalizing on the WeChat social ecosystem, is developing Yuanbao as a "social intelligent agent portal." Backed by WeChat's network of熟人 (acquaintances), Tencent's Yuanbao is also extending into "office intelligent agent" and "personal knowledge intelligent agent" domains. Judging from the latest moves by various players at the beginning of the year, 2026 appears to be shaping up as the "inaugural year of the general AI portal," with each company striving to position their AI-to-C applications as the super portal for people's life needs, including shopping, entertainment, and socializing. Guosen Securities analyst Zhang Heng believes that AI is reshaping the form of user portals, and this change in portal form is triggering a fundamental revolution in the underlying mechanism of internet traffic distribution. The traditional era of search engine optimization (SEO) is concluding, and the era of generative engine optimization (GEO) is formally commencing. He further elaborated in a research report that past user search behavior relied on "keyword matching -> clicking links -> self-filtering." In contrast, contemporary AI search centers on natural language; users simply pose a question, and the system automatically understands the intent, aggregates information, and generates a single, structured answer. This transformation has spurred the rise of GEO, whose essence is no longer about pursuing search ranking, but rather about optimizing the structure and authority of data to compete for "citation rates" and "answer share" within AI models. Under this model, industry insiders predict that those who control the AI portal will ultimately dominate the landscape. This shift represents not just an upgrade in product form, but a complete restructuring of the entire logic behind internet traffic distribution. In other words, the competition among AI-to-C applications is fundamentally a contest to become the "super portal" for users' digital lives. The value of this portal lies in its ability to become the first point of contact when users seek to solve a problem. Within this framework, deep integration with application scenarios is key. Whoever can effectively combine AI capabilities with users' high-frequency, essential scenarios will gain a strategic advantage. Technological barriers and data closed-loops form a defensive moat. Data collected through multi-scenario applications can, in turn, feed back into model optimization, creating a virtuous cycle of "data -> model -> scenario." This dynamic suggests that industry leaders may be able to sustain their领先 (leading) position. Ecosystem integration capability, meanwhile, determines the potential ceiling. A true super portal needs to integrate various services to form a complete, seamless experience loop. Despite the rapid development of AI-to-C applications, they still face multiple challenges. For instance, establishing standard interfaces for interoperability between different intelligent agents is difficult amidst intense competition among internet giants; the protocols for invoking services between agents and corresponding revenue-sharing models remain unclear; and issues concerning data permissions and security risks are yet to be fully resolved. Furthermore, the exploration of viable business models is still in its early stages. Major internet companies are primarily focused on user acquisition and refining the user experience, with short-term monetization goals not yet clearly defined. However, it is undeniable that an unprecedented AI revolution is steadily permeating everyone's daily life.
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