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Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen. Photo by Cheng Xin/Getty Images

Tencent’s New Model Shows Improvement, Partly Thanks to Anthropic

By Juro Osawa · Apr 28, 2026 6:00am PDT

Chinese tech giant Tencent’s latest AI model has generated positive reviews from developers. But the company probably owes some of that success to Anthropic. Tencent employees used Anthropic’s Claude to assist them with evaluating and fine-tuning the model, known as Hy3, to improve its performance, according to two people with direct knowledge... Chinese tech giant Tencent’s latest AI model has generated positive reviews from developers. But...

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New Security Breaches at Anthropic and OpenAI Proved Mark Zuckerberg Right

By Aaron Holmes and Rocket Drew · Apr 23, 2026 7:00am PDT

Hours after Anthropic said it was investigating a report that users had gained unauthorized access to its ballyhooed Mythos model, OpenAI accidentally made a slate of its own unreleased models available on its Codex app. The breaches are a reminder that Anthropic and OpenAI have plenty of their own cybersecurity issues even as they help... Hours after Anthropic said it was investigating a report that users had gained unauthorized...

Artificial Intelligence

OpenClaw Struggles to Grow Up After Overnight Success

By Juro Osawa and Rocket Drew · Apr 22, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenClaw, the AI agent software that took the tech world by storm, is reckoning with a difficult choice: whether to transition from an experimental hacker project to a sustainable tool companies can reliably use. One of the fastest-growing open-source software projects ever, OpenClaw is still managed by a group of volunteers who are trying to... OpenClaw, the AI agent software that took the tech world by storm, is reckoning with a difficult...

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Tencent, Alibaba in Talks to Invest in DeepSeek at $20 Billion-Plus Valuation

By The Information Staff · Apr 22, 2026 4:17am PDT

Art via Shutterstock

Tencent, Alibaba in Talks to Invest in DeepSeek at $20 Billion-Plus Valuation

By The Information Staff · Apr 22, 2026 4:17am PDT

Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group are in talks to invest in DeepSeek, the AI upstart that recently started fundraising for the first time, according to four people with knowledge of the conversations. DeepSeek, owned by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, is now seeking to raise funding at a valuation of more... Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group are in talks to invest in DeepSeek, the AI...

Sunday Insights

China’s 10 Most Important Chip Design Firms

By Qianer Liu · Apr 19, 2026 8:00am PDT · 2 comments

Ask Washington’s most plugged-in politicians and lobbyists which Chinese chip company is the biggest threat to Nvidia and you’ll hear one name: Huawei Technologies. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly cited Huawei’s rising prominence in both private meetings with lawmakers and public forums. Huawei has become shorthand for China’s... Ask Washington’s most plugged-in politicians and lobbyists which Chinese chip company is the...

Art by Mike Sullivan

China’s Probe of Meta’s Manus Purchase Sends Startups Scrambling

By Jing Yang and Juro Osawa · Apr 15, 2026 7:00am PDT

China’s AI startup founders are jittery. The Chinese government’s investigation of Manus’ sale to Meta Platforms has cast a shadow over a popular exit path for startup founders. And it has caused some startups to consider moving out of China or to shift some operations to Singapore.While some AI startups are happy to stay in China, relying on... China’s AI startup founders are jittery. The Chinese government’s investigation of Manus’ sale to...

Art by Mike Sullivan

DeepSeek’s New AI Model Will Be a Victory for Huawei

By Qianer Liu · Apr 3, 2026 6:00am PDT

When DeepSeek introduces its next-generation model, likely in the next few weeks, it will mark a milestone in China’s yearslong quest for semiconductor self-sufficiency. That’s because the new model, called V4, will be able to run on the latest chips designed by Huawei Technologies. And in preparation for V4’s launch, Chinese tech giants,... When DeepSeek introduces its next-generation model, likely in the next few weeks, it will mark a...

Tencent Bets on OpenClaw to Make Up for Lost Ground in China AI Battle

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Mar 27, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Tencent Bets on OpenClaw to Make Up for Lost Ground in China AI Battle

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Mar 27, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Shortly after OpenClaw shot to popularity in January, a newly hired product manager at Tencent in China became obsessed with the open-source software for building AI agents. That manager, Shuyu Zhang, quickly came up with the idea for QClaw, an OpenClaw-based agent that can be installed with one click and controlled with Tencent’s WeChat app,... Shortly after OpenClaw shot to popularity in January, a newly hired product manager at Tencent in...

Art by Mike Sullivan/Shutterstock

Claude is Gaining on OpenClaw

By Rocket Drew · Mar 26, 2026 7:25am PDT

Anthropic has been on a tear in adding features to its Claude AI agents for coding and other white-collar work. The Claude agents now offer many of the features that turned OpenClaw, an open-source tool for developing personal AI agents, into a sensation.Claude’s new features include the ability to take over a person’s computer to perform... Anthropic has been on a tear in adding features to its Claude AI agents for coding and other...

Giga Energy cofounders Brent Whitehead and Matt Lohstroh. Photo courtesy of Giga.

Meet Giga, a AI Data Center Developer That Has Barely Raised Capital

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 19, 2026 7:00am PDT

Startups developing data centers to power AI are among the most capital-hungry businesses around right now. Many are raising billions of dollars in equity and debt to build complicated facilities.There are few like Houston-based Giga Energy, however. Founded in 2019 by two Texas A&M juniors studying finance and industrial distribution, Giga... Startups developing data centers to power AI are among the most capital-hungry businesses around...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images.

Apple’s App Store Rules Are Stuck In Past

By Aaron Tilley · Mar 18, 2026 5:00pm PDT

It may be time for Apple to update the rules for its App Store. As we reported in this story today, app developers making apps that allow vibe coding—AI tools that let people without coding experience create apps easily—have run into delays getting their apps approved. Slowing down that process isn’t a good look for Apple, which has faced plenty... It may be time for Apple to update the rules for its App Store. As we reported in this story...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple Cracks Down on ‘Vibe Coding’ Apps

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Aaron Tilley · Mar 18, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple Cracks Down on ‘Vibe Coding’ Apps

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Aaron Tilley · Mar 18, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Apple has quietly prevented AI vibe coding apps such as Replit and Vibecode, which help people create games and other applications, from releasing updates to their mobile apps on the App Store unless they make modifications, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. The company confirmed it has told some app developers that... Apple has quietly prevented AI vibe coding apps such as Replit and Vibecode, which help people...

Pony Ma, CEO, of Tencent Holdings. Photo by Justin Chin/ Getty Images

Tencent Joins China’s AI Agent Race With ‘Top-Secret’ WeChat Project

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Mar 10, 2026 6:00am PDT

Tencent Holdings is secretly building a new AI agent for its hugely popular WeChat messaging app, in hopes of leapfrogging rivals like Alibaba Group and ByteDance in the race to dominate China’s domestic AI market, according to four people familiar with the project. The project could dramatically widen how AI agents, which take actions on... Tencent Holdings is secretly building a new AI agent for its hugely popular WeChat messaging app,...