Z.ai CEO Says China Could Reach Fable 5-Class AI Before Q1
Updated
Updated · Tom's Hardware · Jun 19
Z.ai CEO Says China Could Reach Fable 5-Class AI Before Q1
3 articles · Updated · Tom's Hardware · Jun 19
Summary
Jie Tang said China will produce a Fable 5-class AI model sooner than Q1, directly rebutting Elon Musk’s post that such a rival would arrive “probably Q1.”
Z.ai’s claim carries weight because its GLM-5.2 model, released June 16, is presented by the company as near Anthropic’s Opus 4.7-4.8 and ahead of OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 and Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro.
Anthropic’s Fable 5 launched June 10 but was pulled from global access three days later after U.S. export controls barred foreign nationals from using it, potentially opening room for Chinese competitors.
The exchange underscores a broader U.S.-China AI race in which Washington has tightened chip, tooling and software restrictions, while Chinese firms still push toward frontier-model breakthroughs.