Chinese AI Startup Zhipu Launches Free AI Agent

The Chinese AI startup Zhipu has launched this Monday a free AI agent called AutoGLM Rumination, capable of searching the web and performing tasks autonomously.

According to Reuters, Zhipu’s CEO Zhang Peng explained at an event in Beijing that the new agent can make decisions and operate independently to execute orders and instructions in multiple areas, such as travel planning.

AutoGLM is powered by the company’s AI models, including the reasoning model GLM-Z1-Air and  GLM-4-Air-0414. Zhipu claims that its GLM-Z1-Air is more powerful than DeepSeek’s R1, one of its competitors, as it has similar capabilities and runs eight times faster and requires considerably fewer computer resources.

The release of the new AI agent at no cost increases AI competition in China and raises concerns for other AI startups in the region and the world.

The Chinese company Butterfly Effect recently gained attention after it released its first autonomous AI agent Manus AI. Videos of Manus’ performance went viral on a Discord community, challenging companies in Silicon Valley.

However, while Manus AI’s current rates start from $39 and can reach up to $200, AutoGLM Rumination is free through Zhipu’s official channels. Users will be able to test the AI agent through the mobile app and the website.

Just like with Manus and DeepSeek, the Chinese government is one of the investors in Zhipu. Just a few weeks ago, Zhipu announced a $137 million investment led by the state-backed firms Hangzhou City Investment Group Industrial Fund and Shangcheng Capital.

Zhipu was developed at the Tsinghua University laboratory, founded in 2019, and is now one of the leading AI startups in China.

Other American tech companies have also recently released AI agent models. A few days ago, Microsoft launched  AI-powered security agents to detect cyberthreats and automate security tasks. In January, OpenAI introduced the autonomous AI agent Operator, available only to Pro users.