Ben Jiang

1 week ago | scmp.com | Ben Jiang

In Inner Mongolia, a convoy of haul trucks rumbles across the dusty, jagged terrain of the Yimin open-pit coal mine. It is a familiar scene in this part of northern China, home to some of the country’s biggest mineral deposits, but a closer look reveals a futuristic twist to this age-old trade: the vehicles operate without drivers. Yimin is one of the five largest open-cast coal mines in China.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Ben Jiang

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek said R1-0528, the first significant upgrade to its R1 reasoning model that debuted in January, matched the performance of top global competitors, including OpenAI and Google. In a statement released late on Thursday, DeepSeek highlighted improvements in the new model’s reasoning and creative writing capabilities, making it more adept at crafting argumentative essays, fiction and prose in styles that closely mimic human authors.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Ben Jiang

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek quietly released a new version of its R1 reasoning model on Wednesday, marking its first revision since its high-profile debut in January. The Hangzhou-based company said it had “completed a minor update to the R1 model”, which is now available on the website for its namesake chatbot, as well as its mobile apps, according to a notice posted in a company-run WeChat group chat.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Ben Jiang

Chinese on-demand delivery giant Meituan posted an 18.1 per cent year-on-year surge in revenue for the first quarter, as it seeks to maintain its dominant position on the mainland in the food delivery market amid new competition. Meituan’s revenue for the three months through March was 86.6 billion yuan (US$12 billion). Net profit reached 10.1 billion yuan, up 87.3 per cent year on year.

2 weeks ago | scmp.com | Ben Jiang

Xiaomi on Thursday unveiled its new XRing O1 integrated circuit (IC) – designed to power the company’s next-generation smartphones and tablets – that it claims bested the performance of Apple’s latest A18 Pro chip in certain benchmark tests.