A new, inexpensive Chinese AI model is catching up with Anthropic, OpenAI on their home turf

Zhipu's AI service on the web, dubbed Z.ai. BEIJING/BENGALURU - Since DeepSeek shocked markets early last year with its cheap but powerful artificial intelligence model, global consumers have been faced with a choice: Chinese offerings with lower prices and less capability or OpenAI or Anthropic, which have poured billions into development. A model called GLM-5.2, launched last month by Beijing-based startup Z.ai, may finally be closing that gap in terms of Western interest. GLM-5.2 has Silicon Valley buzzing with its coding and agent capabilities, or the ability to execute complex tasks with minimal prompting, that almost rival leading U.S. offerings at a fraction of the cost, in what some experts are calling a "mini DeepSeek moment." In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.