Z.ai: Inside a Top Chinese AI Lab

This episode, I talk with Zixuan Li at Z.ai, one of China's top AI labs and the company behind the popular GLM models. Zixuan is Z.ai's Director of Product for genAI strategy and global partnerships. We discuss Z.ai's newest flagship AI model, the challenges of building agentic AI models, and what their longer AI strategy looks like.

00:00 Intro to Zixuan Li of Z.ai

00:29 GLM-5.1, Z.ai's Newest Flagship Model

04:34 Long Horizon Tasks

08:33 GLM Family of Foundation Models

14:30 Challenges in Developing Agentic AI Models

19:37 Working with Chinese AI Chipmakers

22:53 Open Source vs. Proprietary Models

36:49 Life After IPO and Chasing AGI

41:37 Z.ai's Global Strategy

Links:

• Z.ai
• GLM-5.1: Towards Long-Horizon Tasks
• Zixuan on X/Twitter

For transcripts and more, check out the High Capacity newsletter.