Chinese technology firms are competing to influence autonomous AI agents that determine which products and brands consumers discover and purchase [1].
This shift represents a fundamental change in digital commerce. As AI agents become the primary decision-making layer, brands must win the trust of the software rather than just the human end-user to maintain revenue [2, 5].
Major industry players including Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are joining emerging AI-focused firms in this pursuit [1]. Among these is StepFun, which is preparing to launch its first AI-agent smartphone as the competition moves toward integrated hardware devices [2].
These autonomous agents operate as digital concierges, curating options, and making recommendations based on complex data sets [1, 5]. Because these agents act as the gatekeepers of discovery, they have become the new battleground for brand visibility in China's domestic market [1, 3].
Industry analysts said that this transition began in 2024 [1, 2]. The trend is expected to intensify throughout 2025 and 2026 as the "agentic web" era matures [1, 3].
While the current focus remains heavily on the domestic Chinese market, the implications are global [1, 3]. Because AI agents operate across the open internet, the strategies developed by these firms to influence AI discovery will likely impact international e-commerce and brand management [1, 3].
“AI agents are becoming the decision-making layer that curates and recommends products.”
The move toward agentic AI shifts the goal of digital marketing from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to what could be termed Agent Optimization. When an AI agent autonomously selects a product for a user, the traditional consumer journey—browsing, comparing, and clicking—is bypassed. This grants immense power to the companies that control the AI's decision-making logic, potentially creating a new set of monopolies over consumer discovery.
