Ahead of the Lunar New Year, Chinese AI startup Z.ai (formerly Zhipu AI) released its open-source model GLM-5, highlighting AI agent capabilities and coding performance. The company said the user experience is "approaching Anthropic Claude Opus 4.5."
Z.ai said GLM-5 expands its parameter scale, enabling it to handle more complex learning tasks. It adopts a sparse attention mechanism to process longer context windows while maintaining lower operating costs.
GLM-5 is positioned around AI agents. In coding, Z.ai said that when paired with Z Code, users only need to clearly describe their requirements, and the AI can automatically break down tasks and complete the full development process. The company added that the industry focus is shifting from "vibe coding" to "agentic engineering."
Demonstrations of GLM-5 also include a general-purpose agent assistant, an agent interaction platform, and various games. When combined with the AI agent tool OpenClaw, GLM-5 can be used to develop assistant applications such as AI interns.
Z.ai said GLM-5 is already highly compatible with domestically developed Chinese chips, including Huawei Ascend, Moore Threads, Cambricon, Kunlunxin, MetaX, Enflame, and Hygon.
In January 2025, Z.ai listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Bloomberg reported that after JPMorgan assigned the company an "Overweight" rating, investor attention increased.
Z.ai has long been one of the Chinese AI firms drawing attention from US firms. In 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote that Z.ai, backed by Chinese state support, was actively expanding globally.
Recently, Moonshot AI and ByteDance have released new models. Market observers expect DeepSeek to announce new developments during the Lunar New Year period.
Article edited by Jack Wu
