AI super-apps are remaking China’s internet
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Business | Everything engines<br>AI super-apps are remaking China’s internet<br>Welcome to the agentic era<br>Share
Illustration: Fortunate Joaquin
May 17th 2026|Shanghai|4 min read
To have a coffee delivered to an office in Shanghai, simply ask one of China’s artificial-intelligence super-apps to choose a brew on your behalf, press “confirm” and the beverage will be on its way. Delegating such important decisions brings risks, of course. When your correspondent asked one popular AI app to deliver a “special coffee”, he received a rose-petal-vinegar-flavoured one.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Everything engines”
From the May 23rd 2026 edition<br>Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents<br>⇒Explore the edition
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