Chinese AI models gain U.S. users as companies trim costs

Mozilla CTO says Chinese AI ‘snappier’ than Anthropic’s

Chinese artificial intelligence models are gaining ground among U.S. users and businesses, according to the Associated Press. The shift is being driven by the models’ lower cost and competitive performance.

Raffi Krikorian, the San Francisco-based chief technology officer of Mozilla, said he began using Moonshot’s Kimi K3 model within days of its launch more than a week ago. He described the system as “snappier” than Anthropic’s Claude Fable, a more expensive chatbot from San Francisco-based company Anthropic. Before switching to K3, Krikorian said he had been using another Chinese model, Z.ai’s GLM-5.2, for routine tasks such as managing his calendar, documents and email.

U.S. companies are also turning to Chinese AI to cut expenses. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it is switching to Chinese AI models to help trim costs, according to the AP.

Krikorian is one of a growing number of Americans adopting Chinese AI systems, which are gaining ground globally because they are more affordable and increasingly efficient, the AP reported.