2026-03-04
In huge news for global open-source AI, Qwen's tech lead has unexpectedly stepped down, seemingly not fully of his own volition. Lin, born in 1993, was one of the driving forces behind Qwen's early decision to go open-source with its models, even before DeepSeek forced everyone
TechCrunch
Junyang Lin, a tech lead on Alibaba's Qwen team, abruptly steps down, and two other team members leave; one contributor says “I know leaving wasn't your choice”
Alibaba's Qwen AI project has lost one of its most visible technical leaders just a day after the Chinese tech giant unveiled its new Qwen 3.5 open-weight small models.
2026-02-12
New: Zhipu launched new flagship GLM-5 https://www.scmp.com/... few things jumped out to me: 1. Use of DeepSeek Sparse Attention mechanism, reaffirming DeepSeek's unparalleled contributions to China's AI industry by making its fundamental research open to all 2. Notable
Z.ai
Z.ai launches GLM-5, saying its flagship open-weight model has “best-in-class performance among all open-source models” in reasoning, coding, and agentic tasks
We are launching GLM-5, targeting complex systems engineering and long-horizon agentic tasks. Scaling is still one of the most important ways …
New: Zhipu launched new flagship GLM-5 https://www.scmp.com/... few things jumped out to me: 1. Use of DeepSeek Sparse Attention mechanism, reaffirming DeepSeek's unparalleled contributions to China's AI industry by making its fundamental research open to all 2. Notable
Reuters
Z.ai says it will raise prices by at least 30% for new GLM coding plan subscribers to accommodate surging demand for its AI coding tools
2026-01-08
Breaking: China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed it will conduct an official investigation into Meta's acquisition of Manus over potential violations of tech export controls. A source told the Post earlier that officials could be worried that the move will encourage more
CNBC
China says it will investigate Meta's $2B Manus acquisition to assess compliance with laws on export controls, tech import and export, and overseas investment
China said Thursday it will investigate Meta's $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus to assess its compliance with export control laws.
2026-01-07
Chinese officials are reviewing Meta-Manus deal for possible tech export control violations, FT reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. https://www.ft.com/... Notably still preliminary review that may not lead to a formal investigation, but report does say that
Financial Times
Sources: Chinese officials are reviewing Meta's $2B Manus acquisition for possible tech export control violations, including Manus' relocation to Singapore
Commerce ministry assessing whether deal for Chinese-founded group violates technology export controls