Doubao Launches "Deep Thinking": A Reasoning Mode for Q&A, Search, Writing, and Reading

Jiang Wu · 2025-03-05

*Originally published in Chinese on March 5, 2025.*

Doubao is ByteDance's AI chatbot. This note covers the product update it announced on March 5, 2025, with my comments on it.

Highlights of the Doubao update

Deep thinking and AI tool improvements

Deep thinking mode: a "deep thinking" switch is added to the input box, with a layer-by-layer thinking mode.
AI text-selection toolbar: selection is improved, and users can type a question straight into the toolbar for a reply.

Upgrades to writing and document management

Documents from writing are saved automatically to the AI cloud drive: documents generated with the "help me write" skill are stored automatically.
"Help me write" supports local files as references: users can upload a local file as reference material when writing.

Better meeting and reading experience

Meeting minutes: the display of results is improved.
AI reading view is live: it improves web browsing, with full-text summaries, mind-map generation, and automatic read-aloud.

New home page and AI cloud drive

A new home page is live, with a refined layout and interaction logic.
The AI cloud drive is live: it supports document and image upload with unlimited capacity and no speed limit, plus AI parsing, file management, and sharing. Next it will support audio and video upload and parsing, with audio-to-text, mind-map generation, and AI Q&A.

From chatbot to all-purpose personal assistant

Reading user needs: Doubao is moving from chatbot toward an all-purpose personal assistant, watching high-frequency features and daily active demand.
Precise iteration: the recent updates hit user needs accurately.

Case studies of innovative features

Automatic meeting notes: it beats the paid products from abroad. A plug-in takes over the voice stream, which builds up data and allows new features.
Cloud drive: it offers unlimited cloud document storage and may grow into open-ended storage space.

Putting AI capability into scenarios and products

Model capability in scenarios: features such as image-to-image and imitation writing lower the barrier to use.
Structured AI capability: AI capability is broken into feature points, with attention to analyzing and managing user behavior data.

How the product form evolves

From addition to subtraction: add features at first, then subtract based on data feedback and distill the core features.
The potential of a cloud computer: Doubao may develop into something like a cloud computer.

Competition with DeepSeek and its own strengths

Competition: DeepSeek's growth has had some effect on Doubao's buzz, but Doubao's numbers are still growing.
Continued development: Doubao's entry points on every platform and its influence will keep rising, and work assistant is its settled direction.
Future form: continuous iteration and evolution is the most important state for now.