The latest Chinese-built large language model (LLM) is impressing scientists with its size and capabilities. Last week, Beijing-based Moonshot AI unveiled 'Kimi K3', a powerful reasoning LLM that can handle large swathes of text. The company's own tests found that K3 can match or outperform rival US models on tasks such as coding and manipulating spreadsheets. Not since DeepSeek has a Chinese artificial-intelligence model caused quite so much buzz. 'It is a turning point,' says Joel Pearson, a cognitive neuroscientist at UNSW Sydney in Australia, who studies how AI is affecting people's lives. 'People are calling it a 'Sputnik moment',' he adds. The model's launch, on 16 July, came just before the 2026 Artificial Intelligence World Conference in Shanghai. The conference began with Chinese President Xi Jinping announcing the formal start of a global alliance to create regulation that ensures AI is safe and benefits people. 'In China's view, all countries should take a people-centred...
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