NEW DELHI: Chinese artificial intelligence startup Z.ai is emerging as a fresh challenger to OpenAI and Anthropic after its latest flagship model GLM-5.2 gained traction among developers for delivering advanced coding and AI agent capabilities at a significantly lower cost.The Beijing-based company’s latest model has climbed developer rankings and drawn praise from prominent AI figures, with some industry observers calling it a “mini DeepSeek moment”. Analysts say GLM-5.2 comes close to leading US models in software engineering and long-horizon AI tasks, while operating at a fraction of their cost, reigniting debate over China’s growing competitiveness in frontier AI.The momentum comes as US export restrictions on advanced AI models have fuelled interest in alternative offerings. While enterprise adoption could face scrutiny because of data security concerns surrounding Chinese AI models, developers are increasingly experimenting with lower-cost, open-weight alternatives.For Indian users, GLM-5.2 is available through Z.ai’s web chatbot for conversations, coding assistance, document analysis and AI-powered research. Developers can also access the model through APIs and integrate it with more than 20 coding tools. Paid subscriptions start at about Rs 1,410 a month under the current discounted pricing, compared with roughly Rs 1,740 for ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro, while Google’s Gemini AI Pro subscription costs Rs 1,950 a month in India.According to Jaspreet Bindra, CEO of AI & Beyond, GLM-5.2’s significance lies less in outperforming OpenAI or Anthropic than in changing how enterprises evaluate AI models.
