Chinese Startup Zhipu Takes Aim at OpenAI With Free AI Agent
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Zhipu releases its GLM-Z1-Rumination AI agent at the Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing on Monday. Photo: ZGC Forum
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup Zhipu AI has launched an AI agent that can perform tasks independently based on user prompts, touting more advanced capabilities than OpenAI Inc.’s DeepResearch — and offering it for free.
Unveiled Monday at a technology forum in Beijing, Zhipu’s GLM-Z1-Rumination can carry out multistep tasks such as browsing the web, retrieving data, analyzing information and generating reports, according to the company.
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- Zhipu AI launched GLM-Z1-Rumination, an advanced AI agent performing multistep tasks, claiming superiority to OpenAI's DeepResearch and offering it for free.
- Demonstrated capabilities include web browsing, data analysis, and generating reports, and the GLM-Z1-Air model claims cost and speed advantages over similar models.
- The AI agent aided in a campaign on Xiaohongshu, rapidly gaining followers and generating revenue, with open-source models available from April 14.
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What Happened When
- February 2025：
- OpenAI's DeepResearch, limited to paying users, was launched.
- March 2025：
- Chinese tech firm Monica.im's Manus agent gained attention for its task-performing capabilities.
- Sunday, March 30, 2025：
- GLM-Z1-Rumination achieved its first commercial payment of 500 yuan on Xiaohongshu.
- Unveiled Monday, March 31, 2025：
- Zhipu AI launched its AI agent GLM-Z1-Rumination at a technology forum in Beijing.
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