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The AI competition among tech giants reached a climax in 2025, centering on control of the user "gateway."

ByteDance launched the Doubao Input Method, integrating its flagship AI model, Doubao, into the high-frequency input market. This move is a strategic step toward building a "Doubao Universe," emphasizing superior voice input using the advanced Seed-ASR model and intelligent, context-aware predictions to boost typing efficiency.

Despite the dominance of incumbents like Sogou and iFlytek, ByteDance sees the input method—used by over 700 million people—as a critical tool for seamlessly embedding AI into daily life without requiring users to switch apps.

Simultaneously, Alibaba's AI offerings achieved rapid success:

Qwen App reached 10 million downloads in one week.

Lingguang App hit 2 million downloads in six days.

This dual success broke ByteDance's previous dominance on app charts. Lingguang's "Flash Apps," which allow users to create small apps quickly without coding, highlight Alibaba's focus on building "AI super native applications" for the consumer market.

The battle has evolved beyond single product performance. ByteDance is focusing on a full-stack "Doubao Universe"—from foundational models to specialized applications. Alibaba is accelerating its AI-to-C strategy across its ecosystem.

The future AI gateway is predicted to be an "all-encompassing ecosystem," capable of generating all forms of content (text, image, code, apps), shifting the competition to deep user-scenario understanding and ecosystem synergy.