Author: Alan | Biteye Content Team
On June 17, WeChat's official account "WeChat Team" announced the official launch of the AI-specific card for WeChat Pay. According to the official description, users can express their consumption needs in a conversation with Workbuddy and complete related payments using the AI-specific card.
That sounds incredibly interesting: in the future, AI could order a bubble tea, purchase a service, or subscribe to a tool—all by itself, completing the entire process seamlessly.
However, after practical testing, we found that the WeChat AI dedicated card currently does not support fully automated AI spending. A more accurate understanding is that it provides a payment capability for AI agents through WeChat Pay, but each transaction still requires user confirmation, and whether a purchase can be completed ultimately depends on the AI agent, skill, third-party platform authorization, and the product fulfillment process.
This article will begin with two questions and one hands-on exercise:
What exactly is the WeChat AI Exclusive Card?
What can it do now, and what can’t it do?
I tested it by ordering a bubble tea to see how many pitfalls I'd encounter.
First, let’s state the conclusion: The WeChat AI exclusive card is not a card that lets you casually use AI for anything.
From a product mechanism perspective, the WeChat AI dedicated card functions more like a separate "mini-wallet" isolated from the main WeChat wallet.
Users must first bind their AI-exclusive card, then top up this card from their WeChat Wallet. Subsequent AI Agent-related expenses will be deducted from this separate balance first, rather than directly using funds from the user’s regular WeChat Wallet.
In simple terms, it addresses three key questions:
First, where does the money spent on AI come from?
The AI-exclusive card has a separate balance, making fund boundaries clearer.
Second, can AI consumption be controlled?
Each payment still requires the user to scan a code and confirm the transaction on their mobile device; it is not an AI-initiated automatic deduction.
Third, how to manage AI consumption records.
Separate AI-related expenses from regular WeChat Pay transactions for easier viewing and management.
How to activate: The entry point is in the Workbuddy chat.
WorkBuddy is a desktop productivity agent launched by Tencent, functioning more like an Agent workspace with an interface similar to CodeX. It understands user goals through conversation and completes tasks by invoking external capabilities via various specialized Agents or Skills, such as office productivity, information lookup, and local lifestyle services.
WeChat Pay's exclusive AI card has been the first to integrate with WorkBuddy, indicating that WeChat Pay is not opening up directly to all AI applications, but is instead testing the complete end-to-end flow of “AI-initiated payment, user-confirmed deduction” within a relatively controlled agent scenario.
The actual activation process is not complicated:
Step one: Ask in the Workbuddy chat window:
How do I use my WeChat AI exclusive payment card?
The agent will return a redirect link⬇️
Step 2: After clicking the link, use WeChat to scan the QR code to bind your account.
Here’s a small detail: the binding link is valid for only 5 minutes—please scan the QR code as soon as it’s generated.
Step 3: Read and agree to the relevant terms, then enter your payment password to complete the binding.
Step 4: After binding is complete, users can top up their AI-specific card using their original WeChat Wallet.
The process of activation and deposit was quite smooth. However, the real challenge with AI payments isn't "how to open a card"—the main issue is whether AI can actually help users make seamless purchases after account setup.
III. What scenarios is it currently suitable for?
According to Workbuddy's guidelines, the AI-exclusive card is primarily designed for the following AI consumption scenarios:
1️⃣ Purchase paid content
For example, reports, data, and professional analysis services.
2️⃣ Call a paid API or tool
For example, certain internet plugins, professional database queries, or pay-per-use tool capabilities.
3️⃣ Subscribe or Renew Service
For example, enhanced platform features, membership services, and more.
These scenarios share a common characteristic: the payment recipient is relatively standardized, the consumption process is short, and the fulfillment method is clear.
However, unfortunately, the editor has not yet been able to test that Workbuddy can directly use AI-specific cards to pay for these three types of applications. According to Workbuddy, certain specific in-app paid features must be triggered ⬇️
Four: Real-World Test: Asking Workbuddy to Order Me a Heytea Drink—Failed
We tried the most intuitive everyday scenario: having Workbuddy order me a drink from Heytea.
The first step encountered a limitation: Workbuddy cannot directly fulfill food delivery or beverage ordering requests; it requires invoking the corresponding lifestyle services skill.
Therefore, following WeChat's official display, we selected the "Meituan Life Assistant" Skill.
This step introduces a new cost issue: generating the QR code for logging into the Meituan account consumes 185.37 points, whereas Workbuddy awards only 150 points per day for daily login.
In other words, even before placing an order, just the step of authorizing login has already exceeded the daily free points limit.
After completing account login authorization, we continued to have it order a bubble tea. When the AI-specific payment link appeared, the experience closely resembled “AI ordering something for me.”
However, after making the payment, we realized that Workbuddy had actually purchased a Meituan group coupon that did not meet our needs, rather than the奶茶 we wanted.
The payment was completed, but the purchase outcome did not align with the user's requirements.
Five: Reason for Failure—The Issue Is Not with Payment, But with the Agent Execution Pipeline
In fact, this failure cannot be simply attributed to the AI-specific card being "unusable." More accurately, the AI-specific card is responsible for payment capability, not complete purchasing capability.
What's truly causing the bottleneck is the agent execution pipeline.
A "help me order a bubble tea" task includes at least the following steps:
Identify user needs, invoke third-party platforms, complete account authorization, select the correct product, confirm fulfillment method, initiate payment, user confirms payment, complete subsequent fulfillment...
The AI-exclusive card only covers the "payment" portion. The preceding steps—product recognition, platform redirection, account authorization, and product matching—as well as the subsequent delivery or redemption processes, heavily rely on the capabilities of Agents and third-party Skills.
So during this experience, the AI did trigger a payment, but did not complete the "correct purchase."
This is also a common challenge faced by many AI agents today: they can invoke tools, but they still cannot reliably complete complex real-world tasks.
Six, Current Mechanism: Users still retain final payment confirmation authority.
From a security perspective, AI-specific cards do not allow AI to make payments directly without user authorization.
The current mechanism can be summarized as:
Phase | The current mechanism |
Funding source | Use only the separate balance on your AI-exclusive card |
Payment Confirmation | Each payment requires user confirmation on the mobile app. |
Main account | Funds will not be directly deducted from your WeChat main account. |
In-store products | After payment is completed, the user must still visit the store to redeem. |
This design is restrained and aligns with the current reality of AI consumer scenarios.
If AI could make payments directly and autonomously, the risks would be extremely high: buying the wrong items, placing duplicate orders, accidental subscriptions, and being manipulated into spending would all become real issues.
So the WeChat AI exclusive card now functions more like a standalone WeChat micro-wallet with controllable limits and per-transaction confirmation, isolated from the main account.
Finally
If you only want to experience the WeChat AI exclusive payment card, you can try activating it, but it’s recommended to start with low-amount, low-risk, digital service scenarios. However, please keep the following three points in mind:
1️⃣ Start by depositing a small amount; don’t deposit too much at once.
2️⃣ Carefully review the product name, amount, and fulfillment method before making payment.
3️⃣ Do not assume that the AI Agent understands your true needs, especially when it comes to specific stores, delivery, group purchase vouchers, or bundles.