What is the Tencent HY3 AI agent and how does it work?

The Tencent HY3 AI agent is a large language model built for real business work like coding, research, and multi-step tasks. It uses a mixture-of-experts design: it has 295 billion parameters in total, but only activates 21 billion at a time. Think of it as a team of specialists where you only pay for the ones actively working on your task.

HY3 is fully open source under the Apache 2.0 license. That means businesses can use it commercially with no restrictions and no regional limits. Tencent co-designed it with teams running Workbuddy, CodeBuddy, YuanBao, and WeChat. They trained it on millions of real workflows before release. According to Chief AI scientist Yao Xunyu, in Workbuddy's production environment, task resolution went from 72% to 90%, latency dropped 54%, and end-to-end task time dropped 47%.

Key features of Tencent HY3 AI agent

HY3 comes with several features that make it stand out for business use.

  • Open source: Apache 2.0 license for commercial use without restrictions.
  • Cost-efficient: Activates only 21B of 295B parameters, lowering compute costs.
  • Long context: 256k context window to handle large documents.
  • Stable workflows: Can run up to 495 sequential steps in production.
  • Multi-platform: Available on Workbuddy, CodeBuddy, and other Tencent tools.

HY3 preview launched in April 2026. The official version dropped July 6th. In its first week on OpenRouter, it hit number one on the global LLM usage leaderboard. API calls went up 68 times compared to the previous model. Workbuddy users actively choosing HY3 grew six times over.

How to set up and start using HY3 on Workbuddy

Using HY3 on Workbuddy is simple, and it is free until August 31, 2026. Follow these steps:

  1. Go to Workbuddy's website and create an account (free).
  2. Open the workspace and select HY3 as your model (it should be available by default).
  3. Paste a prompt like the ones from this episode.
  4. Let HY3 browse the web and gather information if your task needs research.
  5. Review the output and refine the prompt if needed.

Workbuddy is Tencent's AI agent workspace, already the most used in China. Now it is open globally and free until the deadline. You get document work, research, multi-step automation, and browser tasks all in one place.

How to use HY3 for content creation and email sequences

The episode shows two practical examples. First, for LinkedIn content: open Workbuddy with HY3 and give this task. Search for the top 10 questions business owners are asking. Identify the five biggest frustrations. Then write five LinkedIn posts that answer each one and position your product as the solution. Make each post direct, useful, and end with a reason to join. HY3 browses, reads conversations, and writes content that matches them. You get a week of content from one prompt.

Second, for email sequences: ask HY3 to write a seven-day email sequence for a business owner who just opted in. Day one welcomes and explains AI automation in plain language. Days two to six cover one use case each. Day seven explains what is inside and why joining matters. Keep every email under 300 words. Because HY3 has a 256k context window, you can paste your existing welcome email and brand voice doc, and it will match your tone across all seven without rewriting.

HY3 benchmark results and comparisons

In the episode, several benchmarks are presented (all from the transcript). Here is how HY3 performed:

  • BrowseComp (web search and research accuracy): 84.2 – matches GPT-5.5.
  • Frontier Science Olympiad: surpasses GPT-5.5.
  • GPQA Diamond (graduate-level science): 90.4.
  • USAMO 2026 Math Olympiad: 72.0.
  • HLE with tools: 53.2 – ahead of DeepSeek 5.4 Pro.

In a blind expert evaluation with 270 participants and 312 real workflow comparisons, HY3 scored 2.67 out of 4, beating GLM 5.1's 2.51. Its biggest edge was in front-end development and data tasks. Also, HY3 completed Workbuddy document tasks with 47.4% fewer tokens than GLM 5.1.

Tips, limits, and mistakes to avoid with HY3

The episode gives practical tips for using HY3 effectively.

  • Use specific prompts: The examples show that clear instructions produce useful outputs.
  • Leverage the context window: Paste your brand voice and existing content to keep tone consistent.
  • Test for yourself: The fastest way to understand HY3 is to run a task, not to watch another video.
  • Know the deadline: Free access on Workbuddy ends August 31, 2026, so plan accordingly.

One limit is that HY3 is not perfect everywhere. It does not win every benchmark, but it matches or beats leading models on many tasks. Avoid vague prompts. Give examples of what you want. Also, remember that the 495-step workflow number is from production, not a demo, which is impressive but still requires careful setup.

Who should use Tencent HY3 AI agent and why it matters

HY3 is for business owners, marketers, and developers who want to automate real workflows. It matters because it shows that open-source models can compete with the biggest names. You get top-tier intelligence at a fraction of the cost, and you can run it in your own infrastructure.

The episode stresses that Tencent built HY3 for real work, not just leaderboards. That is why it was co-designed with production teams. If you run a business, you can use HY3 for content creation, email outreach, research, and client work. The AI Profit Boardroom offers a 30-day roadmap for setting up AI agent workflows like these. There are live coaching calls, daily tutorials, and a prompt library. But you can also start alone. Just go to Workbuddy and try the prompts from this episode.