China is about to launch its first AI model IPO, Zhipu AI. Investors may be excited, but Zhipu’s product is weak.
China’s first IPO of an LLM startup, Zhipu AI, will start trading Thursday. The IPO is expected to value Zhipu at nearly USD $7 billion.
This morning, I ran it through a series of tests. I found Zhipu to be well behind top American models.
Let me show you where Zhipu falls short…
Round #1: Learning About AI Chips
NVIDIA and AMD introduced new AI chips at CES this week. How do these chips differ?
Zhipu gave a strong answer, emphasizing NVIDIA’s better software.
But I would have liked to see Zhipu cite better sources. It mostly cited Substacks and Yahoo Finance articles rather than technical specs.
I’m going to give this round a B+.
Round #2: Zhipu the Personal Trainer
I’ve done strength training twice a week for years. Every quarter, I do a deload week to give myself some rest.
But is that enough?
Zhipu recommends taking a deload week every 6-8 weeks instead. But it doesn’t cite any sources.
How can I rely on this answer?
When I run the same query through Grok, it answers faster and cites 25 sources. That’s the bar for an AI model today.
I’m giving this round a C.
Round #3: Zhipu the Sleep Coach
I just got back from a wonderful trip to Wisconsin. I saw friends and family over the holidays, which made me really happy.
There was only one downside: my sleep. The system I have dialed in at home just isn’t the same on the road.
Let’s ask Zhipu how to get my sleep back on track…
Zhipu gives some interesting ideas, like getting light in the morning. But the sources it cited were all in Chinese.
Zhipu is supposed to be bilingual in English and Chinese, so citing sources in the wrong language is a serious problem.
I’m going to give this round a C as well.
Wrap-Up
Overall, Zhipu earns a C+ in my testing.
Its answers are decent, but sourcing is weak. It’s hard to tell if Zhipu’s answers are correct or not.
These responses would have been excellent two years ago. But today, Grok and Gemini blow Zhipu out of the water. Zhipu is also behind Chinese models like Kimi and DeepSeek.
I had fun playing with Zhipu, but I won’t be using it again any time soon. It’s just too far behind.
Have you tried Zhipu?
More on tech:
Gemini Beats Grok and GPT 5.2 In a Head-to-Head Test
Kimi 2 Thinking — A Real Threat to ChatGPT and Grok
Can DeepSeek Beat the Best American Models?
Save Money on Stuff I Use:
This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.
More on Fundrise in this post.
If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!
I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!
I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.
Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order.
Tremendous 
Leave a comment