Two weeks ago, the artificial intelligence company Anthropic shut down its two most powerful A.I. systems after an unexpected demand from the U.S. government to cut access to it.

两周前，在美国政府突然要求对其两款最强大的人工智能系统访问权限设限后，人工智能公司Anthropic关闭了这两个系统。

Days later, a Chinese start-up, Z.ai, released an A.I. model that is nearly as powerful as Anthropic’s models, Fable and Mythos. But Z.ai’s new technology costs much less to use, and no one in the United States was putting restrictions on it. It quickly landed on a closely watched leaderboard of the world’s 10 most popular models.

几天后，中国初创公司智谱发布了一款人工智能模型，性能几乎与Anthropic的Fable和Mythos模型相当。不过，智谱这款新技术的使用成本要低得多，且在美国不受任何限制。它很快便登上了全球最受关注的人工智能模型排行榜前十。

Z.ai is on the cutting edge of a wave of powerful but inexpensive A.I. from China that is challenging the lock that OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have had on the industry. Six of the models now on the A.I. leaderboard were developed in China.

智谱站在中国新一波高性能、低成本人工智能浪潮的最前沿，这股浪潮正在挑战OpenAI、Anthropic和谷歌长期以来对行业的主导地位。目前，全球人工智能模型排行榜中有六款来自中国。

Z.ai’s new model, GLM-5.2, arrived just as U.S. businesses realized that they had to find ways to cut down on how much they were spending on A.I. It also landed when executives in Silicon Valley were becoming worried that the Trump administration was leaning toward regulating the technology.

智谱的新模型GLM-5.2发布之际，美国企业已意识到必须压缩人工智能开支。与此同时，硅谷高管们也越来越担心，特朗普政府正倾向于加强对人工智能行业的监管。

“With Fable restricted, the gap between the U.S. and China is very slim,” said Rehaan Ahmad, a co-founder of the Silicon Valley start-up alphaXiv, who has been using Z.ai’s new model for more than a week.

“随着Fable受到限制，美中之间的差距已经微乎其微，”硅谷初创公司alphaXiv联合创始人里汉·艾哈迈德说道。过去一周多来，他一直在使用智谱的新模型。

The Chinese models still face two big hurdles to widespread use in the United States: concerns about their ties to the Chinese government and complaints that Chinese companies have unfairly used American technology to build these cheaper models. But their low cost is winning converts.

不过，中国模型在美国广泛普及仍面临两大障碍：一是人们担心它们与中国政府关系密切；二是有人指责中国企业利用美国技术、以不公平的方式开发出这些成本更低的模型。但它们低廉的价格仍不断吸引新的用户。

About 18 months ago, the Chinese start-up DeepSeek shocked Silicon Valley when it demonstrated that it could build effective A.I. far more affordably than many of its American counterparts. Z.ai is doing something similar. When performing certain tasks, GLM-5.2 costs about an eighth as much as Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8, which came out shortly before Fable and Mythos, according to OpenRouter, a start-up that runs the A.I. leaderboard.

大约一年半前，中国初创公司DeepSeek令硅谷大为震惊，它证明自己能够以远低于许多美国同行的成本构建高性能的人工智能系统。如今，智谱正在做类似的事情。根据运营人工智能排行榜的初创公司OpenRouter的数据，在处理某些任务时，GLM-5.2的使用成本仅为Anthropic此前推出的Claude Opus 4.8的约八分之一。Claude Opus 4.8的发布时间略早于Fable和Mythos。

Like most top-performing Chinese models, GLM-5.2 is open source software, which means anyone can use and modify it for free. That makes it much cheaper to use, even if it is not quite as powerful as what American companies have created.

与大多数顶级中国模型一样，GLM-5.2页是开源软件，这意味着任何人均可免费使用和修改。这使得其使用成本大大降低，即使其性能可能不如美国公司的产品。

“Do you need to drive a Ferrari everywhere?” asked Vivek Ramaswami, a start-up investor at Madrona Venture Group. “Probably not.”

“你有必要去哪儿都开法拉利吗？”麦德罗纳风险投资集团的创业投资人初创投资人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米问道。“恐怕不会吧。”

Z.ai did not respond to requests for comment.

智谱未回应置评请求。

GLM-5.2 is particularly good at generating computer code and powering A.I. agents, digital assistants that can use other software to perform tasks. Z.ai’s technology is now the third most widely used in the world for A.I. tasks, said Anastasios Angelopoulos, chief executive of ArenaAI, which tracks millions of A.I. users.

GLM-5.2在生成计算机代码和驱动人工智能代理（能够调用其他软件执行任务的数字助手）方面尤为出色。ArenaAI首席执行官阿纳斯塔西奥斯·安杰洛普洛斯表示，智谱的技术目前在全球人工智能任务使用量中排名第三。ArenaAI追踪数百万人工智能用户。

The largest cloud computing providers, including Microsoft and Amazon, already offer access to some systems from Z.ai, DeepSeek, MiniMax and other Chinese start-ups. Microsoft has also considered adding the latest DeepSeek model as an option to power one of its own products, which now runs on technology from Anthropic and OpenAI, two people familiar with the deliberations said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly.

包括微软和亚马逊在内的大型云计算提供商已在提供对智谱、DeepSeek、MiniMax等中国初创企业旗下部分系统的访问服务。两名不便具名的知情人士还透露，微软也在考虑将DeepSeek最新模型加入自家某款产品，作为Anthropic和OpenAI技术之外的另一种选择。

The talks were reported earlier by Axios.

Axios此前率先报道了这一消息

Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI declined to comment.

微软、Anthropic和OpenAI均拒绝置评。

Some software developers are reluctant to use the A.I. system that Z.ai offers from computers in China, because they worry about sharing data with the company or with the Chinese government. They are also wary of China’s efforts to censor its A.I. systems or running afoul of U.S. export restrictions.

一些软件开发人员不愿使用智谱在中国境内计算机上提供的人工智能系统，因为他们担心与该公司或中国政府共享数据。此外，他们也顾虑中国对人工智能内容的审查，以及可能触犯美国出口管制规定。

Z.ai was added to the Commerce Department’s trade blacklist in 2025. Corporate filings show that several of the company’s shareholders are controlled by a Chinese government agency that supervises the country’s defense industry.

2025年，美国商务部将智谱列入实体清单。公司文件显示，该公司数名股东受中国一家监管国防工业的政府机构控制。

Companies can still use the model without sending data back to China in violation of U.S. export rules, as long as they are careful about how they set up their systems, said Wei Chen, chief legal officer at Infoblox, a network security company.

网络安全公司Infoblox首席法务官陈玮（音）表示，只要在系统设置上谨慎操作，企业仍可在不将数据传回中国、不违反美国出口法规的前提下使用这一模型。

“The Chinese models do not have the same restrictions if you host them yourself or you go through another provider,” Mr. Ahmad of alphaXiv said. “Right now, there are more restrictions on models from Anthropic.”

初创公司alphaXiv的艾哈迈德说：“如果你自己部署这些中国模型，或者通过第三方服务商使用它们，它们就没有那些限制。现在，反倒是Anthropic的模型受到更多限制。”

After DeepSeek’s release in 2025, governments around the world passed regulations limiting its use because of data security concerns. But so far, GLM-5.2 has not raised similar alarms, Ms. Chen said.

在DeepSeek于2025年发布后，世界各国出于数据安全担忧出台了限制其使用的法规。但陈玮表示，到目前为止，GLM-5.2尚未引发类似的担忧。

DeepSeek的人工智能助手性能曾震惊硅谷。

Anthropic and OpenAI have accused Chinese companies of improperly harvesting data from their A.I. systems to accelerate the development of the Chinese technology. On Wednesday, Anthropic sent a letter, viewed by The New York Times, to Senators Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, and Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, accusing the Chinese tech giant Alibaba of “brazenly” and “illicitly” trying to copy its technology through 24,000 fraudulent accounts.

Anthropic和OpenAI均指控中国企业不当收集其人工智能系统的数据，以加速中国技术的发展。周三，Anthropic致信南卡罗来纳州共和党参议员蒂姆·斯科特和马萨诸塞州民主党参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦（《纽约时报》已看到了这封信），指控中国科技巨头阿里巴巴通过2.4万个虚假账户“肆无忌惮地”和“非法地”试图复制其技术。

Alibaba declined to comment.

阿里巴巴拒绝置评。

When Mustafa Suleyman, the head of Microsoft’s A.I. lab, unveiled a suite of new models this month, he emphasized that they had been built from scratch on data that the company had commercially licensed.

本月，微软人工智能实验室负责人穆斯塔法·苏雷曼在发一系列新模型时强调，这些模型是基于公司已获得商业许可的数据从头开始构建的。

“That means that you can put it into production in a very trustworthy way with complete confidence,” he said.

“这意味着你可以完全放心地、以值得信赖的方式将其投入生产，”他说。

(The Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. They have denied those claims.)

（《纽约时报》已起诉OpenAI及其合作伙伴微软，指控二者未经授权使用新闻内容训练人工智能系统。两家公司均否认这些指控。）

Using data from one system to train another — a process called distillation — is common in A.I. development. But the Anthropic and OpenAI terms of service forbid anyone to surreptitiously harvest data for distillation. It is not clear whether Z.ai used distillation in the development of its technology.

利用一个系统的数据训练另一个系统——即所谓的"蒸馏"——在人工智能开发领域颇为常见。但Anthropic和OpenAI的服务条款明确禁止任何人私自收集数据用于蒸馏。目前尚不清楚智谱在开发其技术时是否使用了蒸馏手段。

But distillation alone cannot build a top A.I. system. That requires several other complex techniques as well, said Charles O’Neill, head of model training at Baseten, a company that sells access to GLM-5.2.

提供GLM-5.2访问服务的公司Baseten的模型训练负责人查尔斯·奥尼尔表示，仅靠蒸馏并不足以打造出一流的人工智能系统，还需要多种其他复杂技术的配合。

“This narrative that all of the capabilities of these models are coming from Anthropic is not as true as people say it is,” Mr. O’Neill said.

奥尼尔说：“那种认为这些模型的所有能力都源自Anthropic的说法并非人们所说的那样属实。”

Chinese A.I. start-ups can offer their models as an open-source technology at far lower prices in part because the industry has benefited from years of support from the Chinese government, which views A.I. as a critical engine of economic growth.

中国的人工智能初创企业之所以能以远低于其他行业的价格提供开源技术模型，部分原因是该行业多年来受益于中国政府的支持，中国政府将人工智能视为推动经济增长的关键引擎。

Many executives have said U.S. companies should not open-source their technology because it could be used in harmful situations. But other experts argue that if regulators stifle open-source technology in the United States, China will gain a significant edge.

许多高管表示，美国公司不应将技术开源，因为这可能被用于有害用途。但另一些专家认为，若监管机构在美国压制开源技术，中国将因此获得巨大的竞争优势。

Because China produces most of the top-performing open-source systems, they say, U.S. developers will build their software atop those technologies. In the long run, that could put China at the heart of A.I. development.

这些专家指出，由于目前大多数性能领先的开源模型都来自中国，美国开发者未来很可能会建立在这些中国模型之上开发软件。从长远来看，这可能使中国成为全球人工智能发展的核心。

Some argue that Chinese systems will always trail the top U.S. models because U.S. export controls limit the flow of the specialized computer chips needed to train A.I. technologies. Z.ai and other Chinese start-ups spend millions for access to chips in data centers outside China.

也有人认为，由于美国出口管制限制了训练人工智能所需高端芯片的供应，中国模型始终会落后于美国最先进的模型。智谱和其他中国初创公司不得不花费巨资租用中国境外数据中心的芯片资源。

Z.ai’s filings in Hong Kong show that in the first half of 2025, the company spent more than seven times its revenue on expenses that essentially boiled down to fees for such computing services.

智谱在香港的备案文件显示，2025年上半年，公司用于计算服务的支出超过营收的七倍，这些费用本质上就是支付给境外算力提供商的计算资源成本。

智谱迅速在美国的软件开发人员中流行开来。

Still, experts estimate that China is just six months or less behind the American companies.

尽管如此，专家估计中国落后美国公司的差距已经缩小到六个月甚至更少。

“There had been this speculation that the export controls would eventually bite and the gap would widen between American frontier models and their Chinese models, but GLM is pushing things in the other direction,” said Jeffrey Ding, an assistant professor at George Washington University who specializes in emerging technology and international relations.

“此前有种猜测认为，随着出口管制逐渐发挥作用，美国前沿模型与中国模型之间的差距将持续扩大，但GLM正在将局面推向相反方向，”乔治华盛顿大学专门研究新兴技术与国际关系的助理教授杰弗里·丁（音）表示。

And with Fable and Mythos sidelined, many businesses have realized the importance of having alternatives.

随着Fable和Mythos暂时退出市场，越来越多企业意识到替代方案的重要性。

“There is a bit of apprehension at large organizations about loyalty,” said Justin Summerville, who runs data analytics at OpenRouter. “Who knows what the top model will be in three weeks?”

“大型组织对‘忠诚’多少有些顾虑，”OpenRouter的数据分析负责人贾斯汀·萨默维尔说，“谁知道三周后最好的模型会是哪个？”