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Ben Jiang

Some of China’s most popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot apps, made by leading developers including Zhipu AI and Moonshot AI, had been collecting excessive user information, authorities found.
Zhipu’s Qingyan, also known as ChatGLM, was found to have collected information beyond what users authorised, while Moonshot’s Kimi had accessed data irrelevant to its functions, according to a list published on the WeChat account of the National Cyber Security Information Centre on Tuesday.
Neither Zhipu nor Moonshot, start-ups that are both based in Beijing, immediately responded to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Their chatbots are among the most competitive alternatives to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is officially unavailable in China.

ChatGLM and Kimi ranked among the 10 most popular AI applications in the country, boasting a combined total of nearly 35 million monthly active users as of April, according to Aicpb.com, which tracks the popularity of AI apps and services
Kimi ranked fifth, while Zhipu’s Qingyan came in ninth.
The top three AI apps in China – Alibaba Group Holding’s Quark, ByteDance’s Doubao and DeepSeek’s namesake service – did not appear on the cybersecurity list. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The latest findings emerged from a government initiative launched in March, aimed at protecting the privacy of Chinese mobile app users. The Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Market Regulation are also involved.
Authorities said the initiative sought to crack down on a range of violations, including the collection of excessive and unnecessary user information through mobile apps and smart devices, as well as illegal practices involving facial recognition and the exploitation of personal data for criminal activities.
Since the launch, three inspections have been conducted, revealing a total of 132 apps with privacy violations, according to findings released earlier. The latest inspection, conducted from April 16 to May 15, identified 35 apps with privacy malpractice.
Zhipu and Moonshot have emerged as investor favourites in China’s AI industry, being considered two of the country’s “AI tigers”, alongside peers Baichuan and MiniMax.
Zhipu, born out of the prestigious Tsinghua University, boasts a long list of backers that include Alibaba and Tencent Holdings, as well as government funds and venture capital firms. Last month, the unicorn submitted pre-initial public offering (IPO) documents to China’s securities regulator.
Moonshot, established by Tsinghua alumni, also counts Alibaba and Tencent as investors. However, its founder Yang Zhilin has been involved in a legal dispute with several backers from his previous venture.


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Zhipu’s ChatGLM and Moonshot’s Kimi have a combined total of nearly 35 million monthly active users


Zhipu’s ChatGLM and Moonshot’s Kimi have a combined total of nearly 35 million monthly active users.
