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Chinese AI labs to challenge Thinking Machines Lab with new industry focus

AI labs Yoolee and InfiX.ai say they aim to rival US start-up with industry-specific AI solutions, reduced costs and enhanced privacy

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Two Chinese AI labs, Yoolee AI and InfiX.ai, aim to challenge the likes of Thinking Machines Lab and Palantir with a focus on AI solutions tailored for specific industries, reduced costs and enhanced privacy. Photo: Shutterstock
Xinmei Shen

Two former Chinese AI lab leaders said they aim to challenge Thinking Machines Lab, a US start-up founded by ex-OpenAI executive Mira Murati, and focus on building industry-specific artificial intelligence solutions and models following their exit from the fierce frontier AI race.

“All models are relentlessly chasing the ceiling of general intelligence … but in many real-world scenarios, we don’t necessarily need an absolute all-rounder,” Zhang Fan, founder and CEO of Yoolee AI and previously a chief operating officer at Zhipu AI, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
Speaking on the sidelines of the LEAP East exhibition in Hong Kong last week, Zhang said that while current AI models were “extremely powerful”, few major enterprises had seen AI generate tangible business value.

Yoolee AI, established last year with backing from venture capital firms including Lanchi Ventures, aimed to help companies build self-evolving AI agents capable of performing tasks that were currently too costly for human workers to do, according to Zhang.

Such AI agents, ranging from personal healthcare specialists to travel planners, could drive new revenue streams for businesses in these sectors, he said.

Zhang, who joined Beijing-based Zhipu as chief operating officer in 2023 before departing last year, described his new start-up as a combination of Thinking Machines Lab and Palantir, the latter a US data software giant that helps governments and large enterprises manage their AI systems.

Thinking Machines Lab, started last year by Murati, OpenAI’s former technology chief, is one of Silicon Valley’s most watched AI start-ups thanks to its prominent founding team consisting of former OpenAI and Meta engineers.
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