What is GLM 5.2? The new Chinese AI model that’s rivalling Anthropic

A new AI model named GLM 5.2 from Chinese company Z.ai has been released and is nearly as performant as leading American AI models like Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8 and OpenAI’s GPT 5.5.
GLM 5.2 is an open-source model with no regional restrictions; it can operate on complex coding tasks and can hold up to 750,000 words in working memory at once.
According to Z.ai, GLM 5.2 performed better than the majority of its rivals on several complex coding benchmarks, becoming the top-performing open-source model.
The release of GLM 5.2 comes shortly after the US government initially imposed restrictions on several AI models from companies like Anthropic, measures which were later lifted.
The US and China are engaged in a competitive race to dominate the AI technology space, with China pursuing a strategy of making affordable, open-source models available globally to reshape sectors such as healthcare and security.

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