The Beijing startup, founded by technology pioneer Kai-Fu Lee, is introducing its first artificial intelligence application for consumers, a move aimed at helping China capitalize on the promising technology.
Lee’s company, 01.AI, is launching a free productivity assistant called Wanzhi, the latest in a line of AI products it’s developing. Like Microsoft’s Office 365 Copilot, it helps users create spreadsheets, documents and slide presentations faster, although it is mainly tailored for the Chinese market. It can interpret financial reports, take minutes of meetings and read books quickly, as long as Elon Musk’s 600,000-word biography provides a brief summary. The app works in Chinese and English.
In an interview, Lee said China needs its own ChatGPT — OpenAI’s chatbot that was released in 2022 and banned in the country — to accelerate interest, adoption and investment.
