China’s leading technology firms have been ramping up efforts to produce new artificial intelligence (AI) products, introducing multiple tools in recent days focusing on visual applications and autonomous agents.
With their considerable resources, Tencent Holdings, ByteDance, Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the Post, have been consistently rolling out upgrades to generative AI models and ready-to-use products, leaving smaller competitors to focus on niche markets. DeepSeek, China’s AI wunderkind, has largely stayed focused on research breakthroughs instead of market-facing products.
Tencent on Wednesday announced upgraded three-dimensional design capabilities for its Hunyuan family of models. Hunyuan3D-2.5 can generate 3D assets that “achieve ultra-high-definition modelling of geometric details with flatter surfaces, sharper edges and more details” than previous versions, Tencent said.
In a live-streamed demonstration, engineers showed the system transforming images of objects such as a truck and an ancient Chinese pagoda into high-resolution 3D files that could be used in video gaming, industrial design or 3D printing.
The updated model is now accessible through the Hunyuan 3D AI Engine, which will generate 20 items per day for free, twice the previous limit. Corporate clients and developers can access the model through an application programming interface (API) for a fee.
On Friday, TikTok owner ByteDance started beta testing Coze Space, a general-purpose AI agent that can connect with internet browsers and code editors, among other software, to perform tasks such as stock analysis and slide generation for work presentations.
