---
id: "framework-designs-of-delegation"
type: "framework"
source_timestamps: ["§ From Assistance to Delegation"]
tags: ["system-architecture", "platform-design"]
related: ["concept-delegation-vs-assistance", "entity-meituan", "entity-alibaba", "entity-ant-group", "entity-bytedance"]
steps: ["\\\"Closed-loop execution (Meituan's Xiaomei): bounded", "high-frequency local services where the entire loop (recommend", "book", "pay", "track) happens inside a single vertical stack — high reliability in a narrow domain.\\\"", "\\\"Cross-service coordination (Alibaba's Qwen): extends logic across an ecosystem", "coordinating tasks across separate apps (shopping", "payments", "mapping) owned by the same parent", "handing control back to humans for high-variance decisions.\\\"", "\\\"High-stakes verticals (Ant Group's AQ): moves into sensitive sectors like healthcare", "invoking services (insurance verification", "hospital booking) to transform advice into executed commercial transactions.\\\"", "\\\"The OS layer (ByteDance's Doubao): pushes delegation to the operating system", "interpreting screen context to act across unaffiliated apps — the hardest constraints on permissions", "data control", "and monetization across firm boundaries.\\\""]
sources: ["geo"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-geo"
originDay: 3
articleStem: "hbr-ext-15-china-ai-agents-commerce"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/research-what-chinas-ai-agents-reveal-about-the-future-of-commerce"
sourceTitle: "Research: What China’s AI Agents Reveal About the Future of Commerce"
---
# Four Designs of Agentic Delegation

## Overview
The authors identify **four distinct architectural approaches** to agentic delegation currently being stress-tested by major Chinese consumer platforms, each with different constraints and capabilities. Together they map the design space behind [[concept-delegation-vs-assistance]].

## The four designs
1. **Closed-loop execution** — e.g. Meituan's [[entity-xiaomei]] (see [[entity-meituan]]). Bounded, high-frequency local services where the entire loop (recommend → book → pay → track) happens within a single vertical stack. Highest reliability, narrowest domain.
2. **Cross-service coordination** — e.g. Alibaba's [[entity-qwen-d3]] (see [[entity-alibaba-d3]]). Extends logic across an ecosystem (shopping, payments, mapping) owned by the same parent, handing control back to humans for high-variance decisions.
3. **High-stakes verticals** — e.g. Ant Group's [[entity-aq-ant-a-fu]] (see [[entity-ant-group-d3]]). Enters sensitive sectors like healthcare, invoking services such as insurance verification and hospital booking, transforming advice into executed commercial transactions.
4. **The OS layer** — e.g. ByteDance's [[entity-doubao]] (see [[entity-bytedance]]). Pushes delegation to the operating system, interpreting screen context to act across **unaffiliated** apps. This faces the hardest constraints on permissions, data control, and monetization across firm boundaries.

## Tension surfaced
The OS-layer design (#4) is where cross-firm conflict is sharpest — Doubao's launch caused rivals to tighten risk controls. That unresolved friction is captured in [[question-cross-app-execution-conflicts]].

> Enrichment caution: the four examples are broadly consistent with reported experimentation, but **exact product capabilities and some naming details** should be treated cautiously without primary confirmation from company releases.