Doubao is bringing household bill payments into AI conversations. After users enter or speak commands such as "pay electricity bill" or "pay water bill" in the Doubao App, they can access the corresponding payment page.

On October 9, a person close to Doubao told Wallstreetcn that Doubao is gradually building the ability to handle tasks in scenarios such as travel and household bill payments.

According to a Wallstreetcn test, after users log in with their Douyin account and bind an account number, they can use water, electricity and gas bill payment functions. At present, the availability of services varies across cities and different payment items, and the services are still being connected step by step.

This is another step in Doubao's recent expansion of lifestyle services.

On September 30, Doubao announced access to services including flight booking, train ticket purchases, ride-hailing and route navigation, and launched a "use Doubao for travel" entry point. Previously, users mainly obtained itinerary suggestions through conversations; after the services were connected, operations such as booking tickets and calling cars could also be initiated from Doubao. Public reports show that the related services are provided by partners such as Flight Manager, High-Speed Rail Manager, Caocao Mobility and Baidu Maps.

From travel to bill payments, Doubao adopts a similar path: users raise needs in conversation, Doubao identifies the intent and triggers the corresponding service, and the specific transaction is completed by an already connected platform.

According to Doubao's shopping and wallet function description, its payment services are provided by Douyin Pay and other third-party payment institutions; some functions require users to link a Douyin account. ByteDance's existing account, wallet and lifestyle service capabilities are gaining new usage entry points through Doubao.

Household bill payments differ from travel services. Spending on flights, hotels and similar items usually begins with search and selection, while water, electricity and gas payments revolve around a confirmed account number and bill. Users care more about whether the bill can be found, whether the amount is accurate, and whether the payment arrives after being made. These steps depend on access by local payment institutions and service providers, which also explains the current functional differences among cities.

As AI applications enter lifestyle services, competitors already have mature transaction systems.

Alipay has long provided water, electricity and coal gas payments; Alibaba this year also connected services such as Taobao, Alipay, Fliggy and Amap to the Qianwen App, allowing users to complete meal ordering, payment and travel bookings through conversations. Compared with the layer-by-layer clicking operation method of traditional applications, AI assistants try to undertake needs with natural language and then bring users to the transaction step.

For Doubao, the value of water, electricity and gas payments lies not in the scale of a single transaction, but in bringing the AI assistant into more fixed and more everyday usage scenarios.

Next, city coverage, bill inquiry capability and the experience from issuing a command to completing payment will determine whether this function can become a reason for users to use Doubao steadily.