ByteDance’s agentic AI smartphone dials up a digital backlash from China’s top apps

Dec 7, 2025

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has moved to tighten controls on its artificial intelligence-powered smartphone after several of China’s most widely used apps restricted its voice-operated functions. The company said it had scaled back the capabilities of Doubao, the agentic AI that runs on the device. In a statement issued on Friday, ByteDance said it would prevent the Nubia M153 AI phone from claiming incentives that were intended for active human users. It was also disabling the assistant’s...

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