Zhipu AI

Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology
Native name
北京智谱华章科技有限公司
Company typePrivate
IndustryInformation technology
Founded2019; 5 years ago (2019)
Founders
  • Tang Jie
  • Li Juanzi
HeadquartersBeijing, China
Key people
  • Zhang Peng (CEO)
Number of employees
800 (2024)
Websitezhipuai.cn

Zhipu AI (智谱AI), formally known as Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology,[1] is a Chinese technology company specializing in artificial intelligence. As of 2024, it is one of China's "AI Tiger" companies by investors and considered to be the third largest LLM market player in China's AI industry according to the International Data Corporation.[2]

History

The startup company began from Tsinghua University and was spun out as a independent company.[3]

In 2023, it raised 2.5 billion yuan with the help of Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings.[4][5][6] Other investors of the company include Ant Group, Meituan, Xiaomi and HongShan.[5]

In May 2024, Prosperity7 Ventures, LLC, a Saudi Arabian finance firm, funded Zhipu AI 400 million USD.[7]

In March 2024, Zhipu AI said that they were developing a Sora-like technology to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI).[8] In July 2024, they debuted their "Ying" text-to-video model.[9]

After OpenAI announced an API block for their services in some areas beginning in July 2024, Zhipu AI have announced a "Special Migration Program" for OpenAI API users.[10]

In October 2024, Zhipu AI released GLM-4.0, an open-source end-to-end speech large language model. The model can replicate human-like interactions and has the capability to adjust its tone, emotion, or dialect based from user's preference.[11]

Products and services

ChatGLM

ChatGLM is a series of pre-trained dialogue models jointly released by Zhipu AI and Tsinghua KEG in 2023. According to NVIDIA, their open-source ChatGLM3-6B in the ChatGLM 3.0 series described it as having "smooth dialogue and easy deployment" compared to the first two generations.[12]

Ying

Debuted in July 2024, Ying is a text-to-video model that can generate image and text prompts into a six-second video clip for around 30 seconds. The service is available at their official website and mobile applications integrated with their ChatGLM chatbot.[9]

AutoGLM

Released in October 2024, AutoGLM is an AI agent application that uses voice commands to complete tasks within a smartphone. The app can analyze complex tasks such as ordering an item from a nearby store and repeating an order based from the user's shopping history. The app was made as a rival to Apple's on-device AI system, Apple Intelligence.[13]

The AI tool runs on a series of AI models and chatbots, such as their ChatGLM chatbot, to process the required actions.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tech unicorn Zhipu AI joins China's LLM price war". South China Morning Post. 5 June 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Baidu, SenseTime lead China's market for business-focused LLMs, says IDC". South China Morning Post. 22 August 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  3. ^ "China's AI startups race for customers as titans like Alibaba cut prices". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  4. ^ Kharpal, Arjun (20 October 2023). "Alibaba, Tencent among investors in China's rival to OpenAI with $341 million funding". CNBC. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Alibaba and Tencent lead US$342 million total investment this year in Zhipu AI". South China Morning Post. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Alibaba, Tencent Join Big Backers for Chinese AI Startup Zhipu". Bloomberg.com. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Saudi Fund Joins $400 Million Financing for China AI Firm Zhipu". Bloomberg.com. 31 May 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Zhipu AI says it is developing Sora-like technology as a path to AGI". South China Morning Post. 16 March 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Zhipu AI launches video model as more Chinese tech firms take on OpenAI's Sora". South China Morning Post. 27 July 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  10. ^ "Chinese AI firms woo OpenAI users as U.S. company plans API restrictions". CNBC. 25 June 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  11. ^ Razzaq, Asif (25 October 2024). "Zhipu AI Releases GLM-4-Voice: A New Open-Source End-to-End Speech Large Language Model". MarkTechPost. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  12. ^ "ChatGLM — NVIDIA NeMo Framework User Guide latest documentation". docs.nvidia.com. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  13. ^ a b "China's Zhipu AI says its app can operate your smartphone for you". South China Morning Post. 30 October 2024. Retrieved 2 November 2024.