China’s humanoid robots hunt for work in South Korea as Seoul bets on physical AI
This article was first published by The Korea Times in a partnership with the South China Morning Post. Chinese humanoid robot makers are accelerating efforts to gain a foothold in South Korea, moving beyond dance performances and showroom displays to factory trials and commercial deployments, as Seoul ramps up investment in physical artificial intelligence. A growing number of Chinese robotics companies – including Hong Kong-listed UBTech Robotics, start-up Anyverse Dynamics, Shanghai-based...
DeepSeek, MiniMax secure open-source licences days after new China export rules: state media
Chinese artificial intelligence model developers DeepSeek and MiniMax have completed export registration procedures and proceeded with open-source releases and overseas licensing activities, according to Chinese state media, days after Beijing moved to tighten oversight on AI tech transfers. Yuyuan Tantian, an influential social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, reported on Thursday evening that the two AI companies had completed the required registrations after Beijing...
Chinese stocks bounce back from bear market on suspected state support
Chinese stocks rebounded on Friday after a sell-off drove the benchmark index into a bear market, as surging trading volumes in the nation’s biggest exchange-traded funds (ETFs) pointed to possible state buying and major companies at the centre of the artificial intelligence trade sought to soothe investors. The CSI 300 Index rose 1.7 per cent to 4,105.33 at the close, reversing an earlier decline of as much as 2 per cent. Turnover in several key ETFs tracking the gauge surged, suggesting that...
Asia-Pacific AI agent market to surge 14-fold to US$11.2 billion by 2030, Omdia says
The artificial intelligence agent software market across Asia, Australia and New Zealand is set to expand more than 14-fold by 2030, according to research firm Omdia, as Chinese tech companies increasingly deploy automated tools across office and industrial operations. During its annual event in Beijing on Thursday, Omdia forecast that regional market revenue, which included mainland China and Hong Kong, would reach US$11.2 billion in 2030, up from an estimated US$782 million this year. Over the...
Unitree developing AI system to let humanoid robots improve themselves
Unitree Robotics is developing a “self-evolving” feedback loop designed to allow humanoid robots to write code, run simulations and improve their real-world performance independently, founder Wang Xingxing said, in a move that mirrors a broader push towards “self-improving” artificial intelligence. Speaking on Thursday at a physical AI conference hosted by Unitree in Hangzhou, Wang unveiled the project, dubbed “Unitree Rehearsal”, which he called the company’s most important initiative of the...
‘Jensen’s nightmare’: Huawei, DeepSeek narrow AI chip ecosystem gap with Nvidia: report
Deepening “symbiosis” with artificial intelligence model start-up DeepSeek is helping Chinese tech champion Huawei Technologies catch up with Nvidia’s chip hardware and software ecosystem in a scenario that could mean Jensen Huang’s “nightmare is starting to come true”, according to a new report. DeepSeek’s latest software releases, on top of its increased experimentation with Huawei’s powerful Ascend 950PR chips, reveal that the technological gap with the US is closing, as the two firms...
China moves to set global standards for brain-computer interface technology
China has taken a major step in spearheading the standardisation of brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies, as it now chairs the secretariat of a subcommittee jointly overseen by two key international organisations and lists the technology applications as a national development priority. The China-led subcommittee, known as ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 43, was set to formulate global standards regarding the communication and interaction between brains and computers that are applicable across...
China’s Unitree unveils ‘guardian’ robot that can disarm attackers, lift cars
A knife-wielding intruder is confronted. A car is lifted to free a trapped victim. A pedestrian is pulled from the path of an oncoming vehicle. The scenes described are not from a Hollywood blockbuster, but a promotional clip for a new “guardian” robot created by the Chinese technology firm Unitree Robotics. The footage for the H2-X model, released on Wednesday, underscores a wider shift in strategy by the Hangzhou-based firm, as it focuses on finding practical, real-world uses for its athletic...
Websites pulled offline worldwide as AI finds critical security flaws
Government agencies and companies around the world shut down websites as they raced Thursday to protect themselves from hacks after artificial intelligence uncovered critical flaws in a widely used programming language called PHP. Wiz, one of the cybersecurity firms that found the two flaws, estimated that PHP code helps run about 70 per cent of the world’s websites – from online stores and news outlets to government services. It called the flaws “among the most severe vulnerabilities discovered...
Meta to pay New Mexico a historic US$25 billion in Cambridge Analytica Facebook case
Meta Platforms was ordered to pay a groundbreaking US$25 billion civil penalty to the state of New Mexico in a consumer deception case spurred by the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The fine issued by state court Judge Francis Mathew is among the largest verdicts issued in US legal history. The award comes after a jury in Santa Fe determined that Meta had violated the state’s consumer protection over 43 million times based on widely viewed deceptive statements made by the company and its top...