Tencent's Yao Shunyu on 'The Moat for AI Model Companies': It exists more in the product layer than the model layer

Tencent Chief AI Scientist Yao Shunyu stated at the 2026 Future Science Prize Dialogue that AI's competitive moat lies more in the product layer than the model layer. He argued that what is truly irreplaceable is an AI system capable of understanding user context, leveraging proprietary data and conversational history to earn trust. Taking WeChat as an example, he noted that even if competitors deploy smarter models, they may not know who their users are or be able to offer comparable services.